Max ride: 10 years Later
by Jenny Telrio
Summary: 10 years passed The Flock; gone their own ways, are reunited. This reunion is ruined when one member goes missing. Can the Flock find this member while escaping constant danger?Or will the pressure and tension be what destroys them.R they ever truly safe?
1. Chapter 1

Maximum ride: 10 years later Maximum ride: 10 years later

Intro

_Today is the day. The day where I, Angel graduate high school_. I thought to myself as I got woke up. I'd be graduating tenth in the entire school! I beamed as I stepped in the shower. Rrrring! Rrrring! Oh no! My cell phone rang and I didn't feel like getting out of the shower to get it, but I figured that it could be important.

"Hello?" "Hi, Angel," It was Emily. Figures. She always calls me at the most inconvenient times. "What?" "I'm going to pick you up in a few minutes." "What, it's only seven thirty." "No, honey it's nine! We're going to be late." Great. I had to do my hair, get dressed, and finish my shower in just a few minutes.

I must have looked like a phsyco, running in all different directions. I was blow-drying my hair and brushing my teeth at the same time. There was a knock at the door. Emily. "COMING!" I shouted. I opened the door.

"Angel, you look like you were outside in a hurricane." "Actually, I was once, in Florida." "Right, anyway are you ready?" "No, just let me put makeup on." "I'll wait for you in my convertible.

I reached for my blush. I was out. Great. Lucky me. Again. I'm sure I had it somewhere. I searched in cabinet in my bathroom. No luck. Ugh. I threw my arms in the air and kicked the cabinet. Everything fell out. Great. JUST GREAT. "#!" I shouted. I started to shove everything back when I saw some blush. Hey, Max gave this to me the last time I saw her. I was thinking about Max and all of our flock really.

"ANGEL! Come one, we have to go, now!" Emily pulled me out the door and I entered her convertible. Usually Emily and I talked a lot, but I was way too distracted.

What had happened to the Flock? Well, let's see…Max graduated high school and went to college in Georgia. That same year Fang and Iggy graduated high school and got jobs in New York managing a joke store. That same year I started middle school and…

"Angel, are you alright? You're very silent." "Fine, just thinking about Max and the rest." "Yeah, after The Gasman graduated, you haven't seen any of them except your brother." "Yeah." I sighed, "But they were all like my siblings." " Hey, you're lucky, you got to keep the house you guys bought all to yourself now." "Yeah." As Emily speed down the highway I thought, remembering all of the good and bad times. I stepped out of the car ready to graduate.


	2. Chapter 2

**Don't worry, there will be action soon!**

* * *

Chapter 1

It was 2 days after graduation and I was still thinking of the Flock. I had to find them. First Max. I think she gave me her number before she left. I pulled out a dusty old address and numbers book. Ah there's Max.

"Hello, this is Angel is Max there." "Yeah, hold on." It was a deep voice, but sounded very familiar. "Hey, Angle, is it really you?" "Yeah, it is." "We lost track and…" I interrupted her. "We can talk later we need to meet. I'll fly over there today." "Would you like me to pay for fare?" "What?" I asked. "Your way." Oh.

I didn't realize she meant an airplane. We'd always flown by ourselves before, even though I hadn't flown in years. "Yeah, I'll take the first flight tomorrow morning. Oh and Max who was that guy who answered when I first called, a boyfriend?" But she had already hung up.

I had never flown on a plane before and was really excited. What I wasn't excited about was that my plane left at 6 in the morning! What are theses airport people thinking?!

The airport was a mess. Going through security was a nightmare. One guard found my manicure scissors and they had to hand search my bag. I was in a really bad mood until I boarded the plane. It looked as I had imagined it. Just a little more cramped, but the seats were comfy. I was thrilled with excitement for my first plane ride.

We landed in Atlanta and walking through the terminal, I saw Max. We hugged. Wait. Something was different. "Max, you don't have your wings!" "Yes, I got them surgically removed and sued the scientists." "WHAT?" Removed her wings, but I was always proud of the wings, and I thought that she was too!

"We have so much to catch up on! I'll explain in my car. So how was your flight?" "Not as pleasant as I expected. This nine-year-old kept kicking my seat." We went to baggage claim, I got my suitcase, and headed outside. The Vallet guy said he'd be here with Max's car momentarily.

"Whoa!" a red Ferrari pulled up. "Hop in." "So," Max said as she sped off. "What have you been up to lately?" "I just graduated high school." "Wow. Little Angle graduated high school. I really wish I would've been there." "Me too."

"So what's been going on with you?" "Well, I sued the scientists for what they did. I got an eleven million dollar settlement. Then I got plastic surgery and removed the wings." Max had changed so much. It was hard to get used to. "Well, here we are." We pulled up to Max's mansion.

"We're home!" Max shouted as we got to the door. A man stepped out and hugged her. It wasn't just any man, though. It was Fang!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

"Fang?" I asked. "I thought you went to New York." "I'll make some lunch." Max walked into the kitchen. "Well, I did. Iggy and I opened a joke shop. Let's say there was a scuffle. About money. He thought that he should get most of the profits. HIM! It was my idea in the first place, anyway I demanded that I get most of the money. Then…I decided to come here." "Oh." I knew there was more to the story then that.

"Well, so that's my story, what's yours?" "Just graduated high school. Have no idea what to do with my life. Anyway, I want to know what happened between you two, in more detail. We're the Flock, we've been through so much together! We shouldn't be broken up!" "Look," Fang said sharply, "Just don't mention it again okay."

The tense moment was broken when Max came in with a pizza. "I seem to recall you liking pizza." "It's great, thanks." "So how long will you be staying?" "Staying?" I took a bight of my pizza. "Well I was thinking of just coming here for a day or two." "No, no you should stay longer, there's so much we have to catch up on! We have three guest bedrooms, which one would you like?" "You really don't have to do this for me." "Oh no, I'm happy to."

I finished my pizza and Max showed me the rooms. They were each twice the size of my room at my house. I lay my stuff down and Max said that she should take me somewhere and we could talk. I suggested the coke museum.

As we stepped out I asked why Fang wasn't coming. "He doesn't want to come out, he's kind of tired. Now, let's go, you'll love it there!" I noticed how she quickly changed the subject.

Max was really generous. She treated me to the museum, dinner afterward, and even ice-cream on the way back! When we got back I changed into my pajamas and lay on the bed. Wow, it was so comfy! I fell asleep and woke up at nine the next morning because my cell phone rang. It was Emily. She was probably wondering where I was, I hadn't told her of my impromptu decision to come to Atlanta.

Oh my gosh! I had 16 text messages, all from Emily. I decided to call her back later. I wanted to find out what happened to the joke shop.

"Hey Max," I called walking down the steps. "What was the joke shop Fang had called?" "Look, please don't discuss it. He doesn't like to talk about it. Don't tell him I told you, but it is called, _Mutant Bird-People Prank and Joke Store_." Wow. Great name. "Thanks. Well, I'm going to explore town. Say, is there a library near here?" "Yeah, about three blocks. Would you like me to drive you there?" "No thanks." "What about breakfast?" "I'll pick it up on the way."

After ten minutes I found the library. The first thing I did was look up Fang and I ggy's joke shop. A news article came up that surprised me. The headline read: **Store Owner of Mutant Bird-People Joke Store Attempts to Burn Store** Burn it? As an act of arson! The police were on the lookout and Fang was the wanted man.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

I had called the police. It was a hard decision to make. To rat out another member of the Flock, but what he did to Iggy, and now how he's taking advantage of Max!

When I got back to the house, Max was upset. "Angle, Fang is in questioning!" I tried to act surprised, but I couldn't. "I called the police!" "What?! How could you? I thought you wanted the Flock to remain together!" "I saw the article, it said he nearly burned the store." How could Max defend him? "Honey, they got in a fight, he got mad. Don't make anything of it."

That was not forgivable. What Fang did. Unforgivable. "Max?" Max turned her head. "What?" "How could you take him in?" "He's part of the Flock." "I'm leaving for New York tomorrow." "Angle…" "Thank you very much for your hospitality."

I went to my room and packed my things. I looked at my phone. Thirty texts. I needed to call Emily.

"Max! Oh thank God! I was about to call the police." Emily always tended to be on the dramatic side. I explained how I went to Atlanta. "I wish I could of stayed longer, but I must go to New York and track down Iggy." "Whoa girl. You disappear to Atlanta and as soon as I find out that you went to Georgia, you're heading to New York. How can you afford this?" "Max paid for my ticket here. Tickets to New York are expensive, but I plan to get a job as soon I settle somewhere." "Meanwhile, I start beauty school in LA tomorrow. We sad goodbye and I went to sleep.

The next day, I boarded the plane to New York. This time I bought first class so no kid could kick my seat. After about two and a half hours we landed in JFK International Airport.

I rented a car and used Map Quest to find the joke shop. I got their and found a pimply teen who looked barely old enough to have a job. "Is Iggy here?" "Iggy? Oh, my boss. Hold on I'll page him."

I took a look at the shop. I couldn't help but smile when I saw shelves stocked with homemade bombs, like the ones they set off in the bathroom on our first week at school. Ah, those were the good old days.

"Hello?" It was Iggy. He looked as though he hadn't slept in days. "Iggy, it's me, Angel." "Is it really?" We embraced. "Wow, Angle you've matured so much since I last saw you."

"I saw Fang." The pimply storeclerk was staring at us. "Let's go to the storeroom and talk. Eugene, back to work, there's a little boy at the door."

We entered a room stocked with fake vomit and stink bombs. Iggy pulled up a chair. "You saw Fang? When?" "Yesterday. He was hiding out at Max's. Now he's in questioning because of me." Iggy sighed. "Oh Angel, we just had a little disagreement. I never expected him to try to burn the store!" "Look, it's okay. Things will turn out okay." "We had to close the store for a whole day."

I could tell this was difficult for him. I didn't want to persist, but I had to find out what happened. "Go on." "We rented a small apartment together. We can barely afford rent. We need every day of business we can get."

So far one member of the Flock was filthy rich, the other two were dirt poor, I didn't know what I was doing with my life, by brother, Gazzy was still in college, and I have no idea what the other one, Nudge, was doing.

"Look, I have to close down the store. You may want to get a hotel. This city is no place for an unaccompanied teenager at night." Iggy escorted me outside. He wrote his address on a piece of paper. "Come over tomorrow morning. We can talk."

Iggy called me a cab, but I didn't want to wait. The store was near a dark alley in a bad part of town and I felt very unsafe. I quickly asked an officer for directions to the nearest motel. I thanked him and ran to the Lower-Side Motel.

I checked in. This dump cost me ninety-five dollars. I had five dollars left and used me money on a room I was sure could be broken into easily. The room was filthy and had a funny smell to it. I finally fell asleep after about three hours.

"Check out time!" Knock knock knock. That was my rude awakening. I gladly checked out and caught a cab to take me to Iggy's place. When I got there, I found his door wide open. Blood was all over the floor. I saw a note written in barely legible writing. Obviously written in a rush. It read:

_I've been kidnapped. Call cops. HELP!_

This was not good.


	5. Chapter 6

Chapter 4

I was in still shock. Iggy. Kidnapped. This was terrible. I called 911 on my cell phone and the police said they'd take care of it. Right after that phone call, I called Max and told her what happened. She asked me if I wanted to come over. I told her not to worry and that I'd be there by midnight.

I couldn't afford to take a plane and it wouldn't be fair to make Max pay for it. I had to fly. I hadn't flown in nearly six years in my attempt to fit in and be a normal American teenager.

I had to have confidence in myself. I flapped my wings. This was going nowhere. Oh come on! How did I do this six years ago? People were starting to stare. I must have looked like an idiot, trying to do this on a crowded sidewalk. I decided to go to a less crowded area. The only vacant area was a dark alley corner. Great. I cautiously stepped into the alley.

I tried and tried, but I couldn't fly. Ugh! "Freeze young lady." I felt something pressed on my face. A weird looking man was pointing a gun to my face. I guess it was the adrenaline that propelled me into the air.

I was flying. "Wee! I'm queen of the world!" I shouted. Okay, I was a little excited, but flying felt so good. I felt the wind on my face and my wings flapping. I can't believe how much I missed it. I took a breath of air and coughed harshly. That's one detail I forgot about flying in New York- the smog in the air.

I guess the flying distracted me so much that I forgot the fact that I was missing my suitcase. This is great. Just great. Oh well, I couldn't go back now.

I looked at the mid-afternoon sun and figured which way was south. I stopped once in some small town in Tennessee, but then continued even though I was getting tired. I had to get to Atlanta. This was a crisis.

I finally got to Atlanta. But where was it that Max lived? Great. I was lost. This stinks. I was lost and it was already dark. Atlanta was safer than New York, but I still preferred to have a roof in my head. I had to call Max.

No signal. "&!" I shouted. I needed to get to Max's house. I needed to see her. I needed my cell phone to work. I needed to rest, eat, and drink. This was a crisis! Hello! I screamed at the top of my lungs and kicked a soda can lying in the road. The can hit someone.

"May I help you?" The man I hit with the can asked.He was handsome and no older than twenty, a perfect catch and I had ruined it! Nice going. Oh well...

"Uh, yeah, do you know where a rich neighborhood called- uh- what was it, oh yeah, Oakwood Estates or something like that." "Oh yeah, you're really lost. That's about an hour from here! Here, I could drive you." He was a stranger, but he seemed trustworthy. "Don't worry, I'm cool. If it makes you feel safer, dial 9-1 on my cell phone." "That's okay."

He led me to an '87 Chevy pickup truck. I sat down and buckled my seat belt. "I'm Jeffery." "I'm Angel." "That's a pretty name. Just as pretty as you." That did it. I had a crush on a guy I met about twenty minutes ago and his first time seeing me was not my finest moment.

We didn't talk much, but that was okay because I was too distracted to talk anyway. When we got to the neighborhood, I showed him which way to go to Max's house.

Jefferey was such a nice guy, and being handsome and all, I was completely sold. He was little older then me, being about nineteen or twenty, still it could work. "Angel, we're here." "Oh, right. Um thank you so much." "Would you like me to walk you to the door?" "Yes, please." Not only was he totally handsome and nice, he had more than decent manners.

We walked to Max's house and rang her doorbell. "Angel." Max hugged me. "Come in, Angel, and you uh-" "Jeffery." Jeffery and I said at the same time. We came in and sat down at her kitchen table.

"Would you like coffee?" "No thanks." Jeffery said. "I'd like some, with a little milk and no sugar, please."

Jeff was staring at me. I knew exactly what he was staring at. My wings. It was okay, I was used to that. "Experiment." I said. "An experiment to merge human and bird DNA." "Oh, I've met someone like you." I was about to ask her who it was, but Max came in.

"Coffee." Max handed me a mug. "Fang is still in questioning and has no idea of what happened to Iggy. I think we need to notify the Gasman and Nudge." "I'll call my brother. I have no idea where Nudge is. She went to college in California, but then switched schools. How will we notify her?"

"I think I could help with that." Jeffery said. "You know Nudge, this Nudge." "How many other Nudges do you know of? I have her number." "How do you know her?" I asked staring dreamily in his eyes. "She's my girlfriend."


	6. Chapter 7

Chapter 5

"Nudge?" I asked still shocked. "Wow, that will be very useful, Jeffery." "Yeah, useful." I had a crush on Jeffery. I was the one who wanted to take his number down and ask him out. But Nudge… ugh. This was not my day.

"Would you like to stay over, Jeffery?" Max asked. "No, I can't but thank you. I can give you Nudge's number. But still, you're the Flock?" Jeffery took a piece o scrunched up paper and wrote something down. "Yeah, we're the Flock." "Nudge talks about you all of the time, especially you, Max." Jeffery stood up and headed to the door. "Really?" "Yeah you all get mentioned in every conversation. Well, thank you." He handed us the scrunched up piece of paper which had Nudge's number.

"Should we call her now?" Max asked. "Angel, Angel?" "What, oh yeah, sure." I guess I couldn't really blame Nudge, I mean he was a good looking guy, and she saw him first and, well, he was her boyfriend. "Are you okay?" "Fine, fine." "Why don't you change into your pajamas?" Max motioned me to the guest room I had stayed in two days ago. "Can't, left my things in New York." "I think I have an old pair. Wait here."

Max went into her room while I thought about what had happened today. It was a lot to process. In the same day, Iggy got kidnapped, I got mugged, I flew from New York to Georgia, by myself, I found a boy I loved, and now I can't have him. Whew!

"Here, Angel." Max handed me a pair of pink silk pajamas. "I hope these will do." "Oh they will, thanks." I assured. "There's an extra toothbrush and some toothpaste in the first drawer of the white cabinet." I thanked her and went to my room.

The pajamas were of course not wing accommodating and were a bit uncomfortable. I felt like complaining, saying to Max, "Hello, unlike some people, I still have wings!" But I remembered that I could've been like Iggy. Probably tied up somewhere being tortured at this very time.

I fell asleep immediately because I was so tired. I woke up to a knock at my door. "What?" "Nudge is here!" Max said. Already? I looked at the clock. It was twelve noon. I walked downstairs dressed in my pajamas.

There was Nudge. She looked- different. Besides being more mature, she died her hair a bright green, and had three piercings, and I tattoo on her left arm. She was wearing a tight, black tube top, and pink Sofee shorts. This was not the Nudge I remembered.


	7. Chapter 8

Chapter 6

"Hey." I said, still in shock. I couldn't believe it… Nudge, a I don't know just, wow! "Hey Angel!" She hugged me. Weird. Just over 4 years ago; before she left for college she never gave hugs. Nudge wasn't exactly a person who you'd describe as overly sweet.

"Wow! You look so different, girly!" Okay, this was even stranger. Girly! Yuck. I don't think I was liking this Nudge. Not only was she extremely different, she was dating Jeffery.

"Come on, I'll make breakfast." Max motioned for Nudge to come to the table. "Come on, Angel."

"Max, do you have any old clothes that I can borrow?" I asked.

"Sure, go into the master bedroom and take any outfit from the second closet." I headed upstairs and into her room. I was not surprised to find out that her closet was filled with tons of designer clothes.

Wow. I could have anything I wanted. I wasn't a huge fashion fanatic, but I just had to have the clothes! After 20 minutes of going crazy, I changed into a designer shirt/ skirt combo and headed downstairs to the dining room where Max and Nudge were talking.

"Hey, guys." I sat down next to Max. There was a nice, warm cinnamon roll that smelled so sweet. I took a bite. "Wow, nice outfit. But you should wear more bright colors. You look kind of depressed."

"Uh, thank you?" Since when was Nudge a fashion expert. And did I really look too depressed? Just then a knock was heard at the door. "I'll get it." I looked through the peephole. It was Fang.

I cautiously opened the door. "Hi, Fang, how was the questioning?"

"Terrible, what do you think? I sat in a stupid room for tons of hours where these officers kept asking me the same questions over and over again." I could tell that he knew that I called the police and that he was mad at me.

"FANG! Is that you? Oh I missed you so much! It's me, Nudge." Nudge ran and embraced him tightly. "Uh, hi." I could tell that he was as shocked as I was to see Nudge that way.

"So did you hear what happened to Iggy?" Max motioned us towards the dining room. "Yeah, the police thought I was behind it. The insult!"

"How'd they let you go?" I said, stuffing myself with cinnamon roll. This was the best cinnamon roll ever! "They didn't. I escaped. There was an emergency. So the officer left the room with the door slightly ajar, and I took my opportunity."

"You should really do something with your hair, Fang." Nudge made reference to his slightly messy hair. "I know! How about we dye it neon yellow!"

"NO!" Fang, Max, and I yelled at the same time. "Oh come on, it will be fun. Please!" She begged. Just then the doorbell rang. Who could it be _this_ time?

Max opened the door. It was Jeffery. "Honey! What are you doing here?" Nudge ran up to him and kissed him on his lips. I felt like I was about to cry. What did Jeffery find in her anyway?

"I came when I heard that you were here. I missed you and -" Jeffery said. "Wait, wait, wait!" Fang interrupted. "Is this guy your boyfriend, fiancée, or what?"

"Boyfriend." Jeffery answered. "For 2 years." Nudge added. "We met at college. But, Jeffery had to come back home because of a job offer. But I visit him every month in addition to holidays and his birthday."

Oh. It was too late for me. Look how close they were! It wasn't fair. I know that they were happy together, but still. I was jealous and know matter who much I told myself to suck it u, be a big girl, and be happy for her, I couldn't.

"So Fang, I hear the police are after you. They're hot on you're trail. The F.B.I. knows that you probably took refuge here." Jeffery said in a calm, conversational manner. "I know!" Fang said sharply. "I need to run. I need to convince the police I'm on Iggy's side. I have to find him!"

"I'm going with you." I said. "Me too." Max immediately answered. "I guess that means I'm in it too!" Nudge smiled. "I'm going to help you." Jeffery said. "What, you don't need to get trapped in this trouble, besides, you have a job." Fang replied coldly. I could tell that for some reason he didn't like Jeffery.

"I'm coming." Jeffery insisted. "You know, this will be dangerous, all of the Flock's adventures are dangerous." Max warned. "Well, I cannot let Nudge experience this danger unprotected. I will come with all of you." Nudge kissed him, then jumped up and down and clapped her hands. "Yay!"

Fang and I snickered under our breaths. I guess we were still getting used to Nudge being so peppy.

"Quickly, everyone pack!" Max said. "The cops could show up any moment." "I don't have anything, remember?" I reminded her. "Neither do I." Fang and Jeffery said at the same time. For a tense second they glared at each other.

"Never mind that, I'll bring some extra clothes for you, Angel and Fang, I think you left an outfit here. Jeffery, we can buy you the things that you need as soon as we're out of immediate danger of being chased by cops." Max and Nudge ran upstairs.

"You know, you don't have to come." Fang started. "Oh, but I want to."

"Uh, I'll be right back." I didn't want to watch Jeffery and Fang go at it, which they looked as though they were about to.

I picked up my phone. Great. One bar of battery left. I had left my charger at home. Another great. I noticed that I had more text messages. All from Emily. The latest one read: _Angel, u aren't responding 2 my calls or texts. I'm coming right now. I will B there Emily. _

I picked up my phone and started to call Emily. The call went strait to voicemail. "Hi, this is Angle, sorry about not calling or texting. Don't bother coming, we're leaving." I heard cop sirens coming from right outside. "Uh, gotta go!" I stuffed my phone in my pocket and ran downstairs.

"Hurry, Angel!" Max called. Fang, Nudge, and Jeffery were shoving luggage in Max's Ferrari. "Freeze young lady!" A big cop, standing at about 6'7", yelled at me.


	8. Chapter 9

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Hey." I said, still in shock. I couldn't believe it… Nudge, a I don't know just, wow! "Hey Angel!" She hugged me. Weird. Just over 4 years ago; before she left for college she never gave hugs. Nudge wasn't exactly a person who you'd describe as overly sweet.

"Wow! You look so different, girly!" Okay, this was even stranger. Girly! Yuck. I don't think I was liking this Nudge. Not only was she extremely different, she was dating Jeffery.

"Come on, I'll make breakfast." Max motioned for Nudge to come to the table. "Come on, Angel."

"Max, do you have any old clothes that I can borrow?" I asked.

"Sure, go into the master bedroom and take any outfit from the second closet." I headed upstairs and into her room. I was not surprised to find out that her closet was filled with tons of designer clothes.

Wow. I could have anything I wanted. I wasn't a huge fashion fanatic, but I just had to have the clothes! After 20 minutes of going crazy, I changed into a designer shirt/ skirt combo and headed downstairs to the dining room where Max and Nudge were talking.

"Hey, guys." I sat down next to Max. There was a nice, warm cinnamon roll that smelled so sweet. I took a bite. "Wow, nice outfit. But you should wear more bright colors. You look kind of depressed."

"Uh, thank you?" Since when was Nudge a fashion expert. And did I really look too depressed? Just then a knock was heard at the door. "I'll get it." I looked through the peephole. It was Fang.

I cautiously opened the door. "Hi, Fang, how was the questioning?"

"Terrible, what do you think? I sat in a stupid room for tons of hours where these officers kept asking me the same questions over and over again." I could tell that he knew that I called the police and that he was mad at me.

"FANG! Is that you? Oh I missed you so much! It's me, Nudge." Nudge ran and embraced him tightly. "Uh, hi." I could tell that he was as shocked as I was to see Nudge that way.

"So did you hear what happened to Iggy?" Max motioned us towards the dining room. "Yeah, the police thought I was behind it. The insult!"

"How'd they let you go?" I said, stuffing myself with cinnamon roll. This was the best cinnamon roll ever! "They didn't. I escaped. There was an emergency. So the officer left the room with the door slightly ajar, and I took my opportunity."

"You should really do something with your hair, Fang." Nudge made reference to his slightly messy hair. "I know! How about we dye it neon yellow!"

"NO!" Fang, Max, and I yelled at the same time. "Oh come on, it will be fun. Please!" She begged. Just then the doorbell rang. Who could it be _this_ time?

Max opened the door. It was Jeffery. "Honey! What are you doing here?" Nudge ran up to him and kissed him on his lips. I felt like I was about to cry. What did Jeffery find in her anyway?

"I came when I heard that you were here. I missed you and -" Jeffery said. "Wait, wait, wait!" Fang interrupted. "Is this guy your boyfriend, fiancée, or what?"

"Boyfriend." Jeffery answered. "For 2 years." Nudge added. "We met at college. But, Jeffery had to come back home because of a job offer. But I visit him every month in addition to holidays and his birthday."

Oh. It was too late for me. Look how close they were! It wasn't fair. I know that they were happy together, but still. I was jealous and know matter who much I told myself to suck it u, be a big girl, and be happy for her, I couldn't.

"So Fang, I hear the police are after you. They're hot on you're trail. The F.B.I. knows that you probably took refuge here." Jeffery said in a calm, conversational manner. "I know!" Fang said sharply. "I need to run. I need to convince the police I'm on Iggy's side. I have to find him!"

"I'm going with you." I said. "Me too." Max immediately answered. "I guess that means I'm in it too!" Nudge smiled. "I'm going to help you." Jeffery said. "What, you don't need to get trapped in this trouble, besides, you have a job." Fang replied coldly. I could tell that for some reason he didn't like Jeffery.

"I'm coming." Jeffery insisted. "You know, this will be dangerous, all of the Flock's adventures are dangerous." Max warned. "Well, I cannot let Nudge experience this danger unprotected. I will come with all of you." Nudge kissed him, then jumped up and down and clapped her hands. "Yay!"

Fang and I snickered under our breaths. I guess we were still getting used to Nudge being so peppy.

"Quickly, everyone pack!" Max said. "The cops could show up any moment." "I don't have anything, remember?" I reminded her. "Neither do I." Fang and Jeffery said at the same time. For a tense second they glared at each other.

"Never mind that, I'll bring some extra clothes for you, Angel and Fang, I think you left an outfit here. Jeffery, we can buy you the things that you need as soon as we're out of immediate danger of being chased by cops." Max and Nudge ran upstairs.

"You know, you don't have to come." Fang started. "Oh, but I want to."

"Uh, I'll be right back." I didn't want to watch Jeffery and Fang go at it, which they looked as though they were about to.

I picked up my phone. Great. One bar of battery left. I had left my charger at home. Another great. I noticed that I had more text messages. All from Emily. The latest one read: _Angel, u aren't responding 2 my calls or texts. I'm coming right now. I will B there Wednesday 8. Luv Emily. _

I picked up my phone and started to call Emily. The call went strait to voicemail. "Hi, this is Angle, sorry about not calling or texting. Don't bother coming, we're leaving." I heard cop sirens coming from right outside. "Uh, gotta go!" I stuffed my phone in my pocket and ran downstairs.

"Hurry, Angel!" Max called. Fang, Nudge, and Jeffery were shoving luggage in Max's Ferrari. "Freeze young lady!" A big cop, standing at about 6'7", yelled at me.


	9. Chapter 10

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Fang, Max, and Jeffery jumped in her Ferrari. "Young lady, if you go with them, you will be in violation of federal law!" The officer barked.

"Go, Max, there's not enough room for Angel and I! We'll catch up with you." Nudge screamed. The Ferrari sped out of the driveway and down the road. Nudge walked over to me. "Now what?" She whispered. "Fly." I replied. "What?"

"Ladies! Where are your friends going?" The officer demanded. "Fly!" I screamed. I flapped my wings and flew. Nudge looked as shocked as I did. "Come on, you can do it!" I encouraged. Nudge flapped her wings. "I can't!"

"Yes you can! Keep trying!" Nudge flapped her wings and started to hover. I could see the sweat dripping from her face. "Come on, Nudge." I grabbed her arm as we flew higher.

"Can you see Max's car?" I asked. "Yeah, over there." Nudge pointed. "Let's go. Follow Max's car!"

"I forgot how it felt!" Nudge exclaimed. "I know, when you feel the wind in your hair, you can't help but enjoy it. Now come on, let's go down and catch up with Max,  
Fang, and Jeffery." Nudge's green hair was flying all over the place. She seemed so happy to be flying again.

"Nudge, Angel!" Max called. "Can you hop on?"

"No, there's no room, remember?" I called. "Can you keep flying?"

"I don't think so." Nudge called. "Look, on my first flight in a very long time, I flew from New York to Atlanta. I think we can do it."

"Follow my car!" Max yelled. "Uh, Max, don't look now but the cops are after you!"

"Step on it!" I heard Fang yell. Max sped up. It was hard to keep up with her. I could tell that it was especially hard for Nudge. "Come on, you can do it, but we need to go a little higher so we don't lose sight of the rest!"

"Oh honey, I can't do it." She flapped her wings frantically. "Oh you have to!" I had to keep encouraging her for the next hour. That's when Max stopped at a gas station. "Let's descend!" I yelled.

Nudge collapsed on a bench. "Is she alright?" Jeffery asked. "Fine, just tired." I answered. Jeffery stroked her hair. "You okay?" Nudge was breathing heavily. "Fine." She insisted.

"Look, I'll fly for her!" Fang volunteered. "Let her ride in the car." Jeffery carried Nudge to the car. "You know if I could fly, I'd fly for her, too."

"Yeah, yeah." Max finished filling up. "Can we get my girlfriend some water?" Jeffery asked. "Sorry, we don't have time. We must go." Max hopped into the car and sped away.

"Now Fang, it may be hard at first, but you'll be fine. Flap your wings-" I started. "I know how to fly! Unlike you guys, I've been flying ever since I left for college." We flew together in the air trying to keep up with the Ferrari.

"Why was she so unable to fly?" I asked myself out loud. "I don't know, I guess it was her confidence." Fang answered. "Maybe…"

"I bet she just wanted to be with that Jeffery!" Fang shouted. "So what, he's a nice guy, they're dating." I couldn't help the resentment in my voice. "I hate him. That cocky idiot. Thinks he's so cool! Look what he did to Nudge! He completely changed her."

"Maybe it wasn't him, maybe she was just experimenting." I offered. "No! It's him. Jeffery, Nudge thinks he's 'so hot'." Fang mimicked Nudge. "He kind of is."

"You're not helping!" Fang screamed. "What do you have against Jeffery?" I asked. Then it hit me. Fang was in love with Nudge. How could I not have noticed that? Oh, because I was too focused on Jeffery.

We didn't talk the rest of the 4 hours. Max stopped at a small lodge in the mountains in Northeastern Tennessee. We only bought 2 rooms, half the size of Max's closet each!

Max, Nudge, and I shared a room next-door to Fang and Jeffery. We could hear them yelling things at each other.

"Are they okay?" Nudge asked sleepily. "I hope." Max answered. "I'll go check on them, meanwhile you two set up the cots."

"Quaint little place, isn't it?" Nudge remarked. "I guess, cozy or should I say, stuffy. Haven't they ever heard of windows here?" Nudge lined up the cots.

"I just love Jeffery." Nudge said as she changed into her pajamas. "I know he's the one. I want to propose to him." I felt my stomach drop. Propose! Know I _really _had no chance at Jeffery. "Have you talked about marriage?" I managed to ask. "Honestly, only a few times."

Max walked in. "They're fine, just a little tired I guess." Nudge stood up. "I'm going to propose right now!" I felt like I was going to faint. "Uh, congrats." I said. "I have to go to the bathroom."

"It's outside, down the hall to the left." Max said. "Thanks." I calmly closed the door and ran down the hallway. I opened the rotting door to the bathroom and cried. I felt so many things. If only I could call Emily. She was always able to help me in these types of situations.

I didn't know what to feel. I was obviously in love with Jeffery, jealous of Nudge, but feeling guilty of not being happy for her, mad because Jeffery didn't love me, and heartbroken. I had to get a hold of myself. I had to congratulate Nudge. I wiped my tears and headed toward my room.

I could hear a scream of excitement coming from my room. I opened the door to find Nudge and Max jumping up and down. "He said yes!" Nudge hugged me. "Oh, I don't care that I can barely breath in this room, or that I can barely move, or that we have to go outside to use the restrooms. I'm so, so, so happy!"

"I'm glad for you. Listen, I'm going next-door to congratulate your fiancée." The word _fiancée_ stuck in my mind. I knocked on the door. A very ecstatic Jeffery opened the door. "Did you hear?" He screamed. "Yes, I did. Congrats."

"I'll be right back, I'm going to buy her the prettiest flowers ever!" Jeffery skipped outside. I noticed that Fang was on his cot punching his pillow. "That idiot! I hate him!" I walked over to him.

"Fang…" I started. "Go away! I want to be alone." I sat on his bed. "You love her don't you." He nodded. "Look, Nudge loves Jeffery, they'll be happy together; don't you want them to be happy?"

"I want Nudge to be happy, but only with me." I felt it would be best to leave him to my thoughts. I went into my room and lay down on my bed, even though I was still in my clothes.

"Don't you want a blanket?" Max tossed me a scratchy blanket. "Thanks." There was a knock at the door. It was Jeffery. He looked as pale as a ghost. "We must leave. This motel is not safe!"


	10. Chapter 11

* * *

Chapter 9

"What do you mean, sweetie?" Nudge asked. "I'll explain in a second. Everyone, follow me strait to the car." What could possibly be unsafe about this hotel besides the building codes and cleanliness?

Nudge and Max picked up their bags and ran out the room as I followed. "Wait, did you tell Fang?" I asked. "Oh, right, that one… I'll tell him." Jeffery called Fang and we all ran.

In the darkness we could make out something that was running, right behind us. What was it? Was it an animal or was someone following us? Whatever it was it gave me the creeps.

"Come on!" Jeffery yelled. We ran into the rocky parking lot, if you could even call it that, and Max jumped into her Ferrari. "Hop in!" Nudge and Jeffery hopped in. "We'll fly again. It will be impossible to keep track of you in the dark, so let's arrange a meeting place." I said. "How about, the Virginia border. I need to fill up on gas." As she started off I heard Nudge; now an environmentalist, vegetarian, and humanitarian; complaining about how she should buy I hybrid car.

"Let's go!" I called to Fang. "How do we know which way Virginia is?"

"Well, I don't know. Let's see, there's the North Star so, if we head-" I figured. "Okay, okay I get it. I'll just follow you." Fang was in a bad mood and I knew why. I thought that I should take his mind off Nudge.

"What was going on?" I asked. "I don't know. Jeffery went off to the florist and then came back running and screaming. Some weird people or things are chasing us, okay. Now you know." I knew that Fang was not in the mood to talk and when Fang's in a bad mood, you don't do anything that would possibly aggravate him more.

So, Fang and I didn't talk for the rest of the journey. We finally landed about a mile away from the sign that said "Welcome to Virginia." Where were Max and the rest?

Ugh. I can't believe how stupid we were. We didn't even think of a decent plan before fleeing the lodge! And of course, we couldn't follow Max's car because it was pitch dark! Apparently, the area with dangerous mountains and roads with no guardrails didn't believe in streetlights. Great thinking on our part!

They could be anywhere on or near the border! "Where are they?" I screamed. "Let's just find a cheap place to stay and find them in the morning." Fang said. "Fang! We have to find them and I'm never staying in another cheap lodge, hotel, or motel again!"

We looked around for people to ask if they've seen them. There was hardly anyone in the streets at this hour. The ones that were in the street certainly didn't look like ones that we should talk to.

After wandering for an hour or so, we conveniently ran into a police officer. "Excuse me sir, have you seen a Ferrari speeding somewhere around here?"

"Yes, ma'am. I gave those folks a ticket. They were going 90 miles an hour. I think they stopped at the gas station down the road." I thanked the officer as Fang and I hurried to the gas station.

"There they are." Fang pointed to Nudge and Jeffery making out next to the Ferrari. "I'm going to go inside for a nice, tall ICEE."

"Fang, can I have one..." I started, but he had already was out of earshot.

"There you are." I tapped Nudge on the shoulder. "Oh, hi Angel. We lost sight of the guys who were following us. We had to go up, down, and around the mountains, but we did it."

"I think Max is asking the clerk in there for directions to the nearest and cheapest motel." Nudge said. "Goody, another cheap hotel. You know, Max is so rich, why are we staying in crappy places?" I asked. "Maybe she's trying to save money."

Max came out of the building with Fang. Fang was holding an ICEE the size of his freakishly large head. "There's a cozy inn a few blocks from here. Let's go." Max handed me a map and then Jeffery, Max, and Nudge climbed into the car and headed off.

"Let's go." Fang and I walked across the street very slowly. Fang kept annoyingly slurping his drink. "FANG!" I yelled. "What?" He was starting to turn back into his annoying self. That was a good sign.

We met Max at the inn. She led us into her room and locked the door. "Okay, Jeffery please tell us exactly what happened at that lodge in Tennessee."

"Well, I was buying my fiancée flowers." Jeffery put an emphasis on fiancée. "Then, I saw some weird thing. It was a wolf, kind of like a werewolf." An Eraser? I thought to myself. No, impossible.

"He talked, though. He said that he knew I was with you guys and that he was part of some next generation project or something like that. Then he told me, that they were surrounding the lodge and had followed us here. They said the wanted to extinguish the Flock." Nudge rubbed his back. "Honey, I'd like to say that they were Erasers, but that's not possible. And next generation?"

"Look, it's nearly one in the morning. Let's get some sleep. I bought 3 rooms. All next to this one on both sides. Now pick your rooms. Oh, here are the keys." Max tossed Jeffery the keys. Fang tapped his foot loudly while Nudge kissed Jeffery. "Hello! Some of us want to sleep!"

Nudge kissed Jeffery again, but his eyes wandered as they kissed. He didn't seem very focused. Perhaps it was all that had happened today. Or maybe... maybe he didn't love her and he would call the whole engagement off! Then Jeffery and I- _come on, be real_, I told myself.

"At least give me the keys Jeffery! I don't want to stay here all night watching you guys make out! Some of us want to get some freakin' sleep!" We all stared at Fang. "Okay, Nudge he's right. See you tomorrow." Jeffery and Fang left as Nudge stared dreamily at the ceiling.

Eventually, Nudge fell asleep on the pullout couch and Max and I got the 2 beds. I kept thinking of Jeffery no matter how many times I told myself to shut up.

We woke up in the morning at 7 A.M. to a knock on the door. When I opened it, there was nothing there but a note written on black paper. It read: _Are you looking for Iggy? I have him sitting with me, alive right now. If you want him to remain alive meet me with The rest of the Flock in Washington, D.C. at noon Friday, June the 4__th__ at the Washington Memorial. –Shadow._

I had to wake up Max and show her this. This was not good.

**Okay, you had it easy before. Before chapter 10 is posted, I'd like at least 5 reviews. Thank you. Also, now I'm allowing anonymous reviews. So no excuse! :)  
**


	11. Chapter 12

**tnx 2 all of my reviewers. **

Chapter 10

Max and Nudge kept reading the note over and over again. "I have to tell Jeffery and Fang." Nudge headed out the door. "This is terrible. What if he's being tortured?" I felt like I was about to cry.

"I'm sure he's fine… so far. By the way, I bought you a charger last night for your phone at an electronics store and charged it for you." I felt my pockets. My phone was gone. "Here, you'll need it." Max handed me the phone and charger.

"Today is Thursday. I think we can make it to D.C. by tomorrow. But still…" Max buried her face in her hands. "The kidnapper or kidnappers know where we are. They probably know what we do 24/7." Nudge, Fang, and Jeffery walked in.

"They're probably those wolf creatures." Nudge said as she closed the door. "Maybe, or maybe the wolf creatures are also after us!" Fang said. "Ugh. This sucks!" Jeffery rolled his eyes. "Well duh! But it especially sucks for Iggy." My phone rang. "Hold on."

"Hello?" I answered. "Angel, where are you? Emily called me and told me that she has no idea where you are and that you keep fleeing from place to place." It was my brother, the Gasman. "I'm fine. Listen, Iggy just got kidnapped, and I'm with Max, Nudge, Fang, and Nudge's fiancée." I knew Gazzy was overwhelmed. "Yeah, well we're heading into D.C. today."

"Angel! How could you not have called me? Well anyway, I'm taking the next flight to D.C. Keep in touch." Gazzy hung up. "Who was it?" Max asked. "Gazzy." I answered. "You mean the Gasman?" Jeffery asked. "Yeah, the Gasman."

"How is he?" Nudge asked. "Fine. Gazzy is coming, though."

"Is he insane. We're being pursued by one, possibly two groups!" Max said. "You know how stubborn my brother is."

"Well, anyway we have to leave. Checkout time is at eight. And it's seven fifty-five. One second late, and an extra ten dollars. Let's get out of here."

We headed to the parking lot. Jeffery started to help Nudge into the Ferrari. "Oh no. This time I can fly. I know it. How about we take turns. Next rest stop we'll switch." Fang jumped into the driver's seat. "And I'll take the wheel. I've always wanted to drive one of these!"

Nudge flapped her wings. "I know I can survive this time!" Although she had to strain herself to do it, she flew- and well if I may add.

"I hope Jeffery and Fang will be okay." I said. "I noticed that they were a little tense, so I figured taking a nice drive together would sort things out." I hoped so too. For everyone's sake.

At the rest stop, I got to ride in the Ferrari while Fang and Nudge flew. I noticed that Max and Jeffery's hair was all messed up. "Fang was going one hundred miles an hour! Literally. That maniac!" Jeffery said. "Well, I'll drive now." Max said.

On the way, Jeffery and I talked about our interests. We loved the same things! Reading mysteries, math, same type of music, and more! I also found out a lot about Jeffery. He was so interesting. He was a skydiver, a runner, a dirt bike racer. He even jumped Niagara falls once! I now loved him even more.

At nine o'clock, we checked in to a motel in D.C. Gazzy called me and told me that he'd meet me tomorrow at 10 outside of the motel that I was staying at.

The next morning, I was surprised to see that accompanying Gazzy was Emily. "Emily? What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Is that all you have to say to me after taking a 3 hour flight here?" We quickly hugged. "Wow, nice clothes." She commented. "They're Max's. Designer wear." I led them up to my room and knocked on the door. Nudge opened it.

"Gazzy!" She squeezed him. "And uh…" I whispered, "Emily" in her ear. "Emily!" She hugged Emily. "Uh who is this?" Gazzy asked. "Don't you remember me? You know, Nudge!" Gazzy's face looked as though he had just heard the world was made of chocolate.

"Nudge?" He stared at her. "That's right." Emily and I giggled at the awkwardness. He hugged Max. "No wings?" He asked. "Yeah." She said. "Oh, now, um, I'd like to meet Fang." He muttered something like, "What happened to Fang, is he a hunk?" Max led him to Fang.

"I'm going to get changed." Nudge said. I hadn't even noticed that she was still in her skull pajamas. "You know, when I last saw Fang, I thought of her completely differently!"

"Come on, let's go!" Fang, Nudge, and Jeffery were standing at the doorway.

* * *


	12. Chapter 12b

**Okay, I'd like 7 reviews before posting chapter 12, please.  
**

Chapter 11

"Wow." Emily stared at Max's Ferrari. "To think, I could've rented one of those had I bought a thousand more dollars." Gazzy was even worse. He was drooling!

"Okay, Gazzy and I rented a car." Emily said. "We can drive in two separate cars. I'll go in the Ferrari so some of you get a chance to drive in the tiny uh… fuel efficient one!" We all rolled our eyes. "Nice try."

"The Ferrari can only fit three, two really." Max said. "And since it's my car… I get to drive it." We had to rescue Iggy, not argue all day about stupid cars!

"Look if it makes you happy, _I'll_ drive in the Camry and everyone else can squish themselves into the Ferrari!" I yelled. "I'll come with you." Emily offered. "Me too." Jeffery and Nudge said. "Good, now let's go!"

The Camry was a tight fit, but that didn't matter. We had to rescue Iggy. Besides, it would only be a 15 minute drive at the most. We parked in a parking garage and met Max, Fang, and Gazzy by the Valet entrance.

"Okay, let's go and remember to stick together." Max said. We scanned around the monument looking for suspicious-looking people. "I don't see them." I said. "It's still early. Only eleven." Nudge looked at her phone.

"I'm hungry. Who wants McDonald's?" Gazzy asked. "I prefer Burger King." Fang replied. "Whatever. Who wants a burger?" Gazzy and Fang took down our orders and headed to get our lunch.

They came back at eleven-thirty. "Still not here?" Gazzy asked. "No. Hey, what's wrong with Fang?" Nudge asked. "He's in a little mood." Gazzy grinned. "They wouldn't honor the Big Mac on the forty-five cent _or _even the dollar menu!" Definitely back to the old Fang. I knew he was still upset about Nudge, but he was starting to heal.

As we ate our burgers, a man with blond hair approached us. "You must be the Flock." He said in his thick British accent. Come with me if you want to see your friend." We followed him to the parking garage.

"I love his accent!" Emily said. "Yeah, but he's with the people who kidnapped Iggy!" Emily sighed. "Yeah, but he's also handsome and…" Ugh. "Will you quit it!" Emily was always boy crazy.

He led us to his car. It was a black Mercedes with dark tinted windows. "Come in." He held open the door. "Wait." He stopped Fang. "Don't bring that disgusting burger into my car!"

"But I'm still eating!" The blond-haired man stared at him. "Fine!" Fang threw away the burger and hopped in the car. "What about our stuff?" I asked. "Oh, you won't be needing it." He backed out of the parking spot and stopped at the parking garage gate.

"What? I have to pay nine dollars to leave early! Theses crooks." The man put the money in the machine and left.

"Where are we going?" Fang demanded. "I can't tell you that." He said. "Is this like one of those movies where a strange-looking weirdo kidnaps people and acts all mysterious."

"Fang!" Nudge yelled. "Strange-looking, weirdo?" The man yelled. "Do you want me to crash this car and kill us all?" We all stared at Fang. "No, sir." Fang blushed, then turned around and saw our 2 lovers making out.

"Will you stop that!" Fang screamed. "What?" Jeffery asked. "Just stop making out. Some of us don't want to see the whole love scene 24/7, okay!" Maybe Fang wasn't over Nudge yet. "Sorry!" Jeffery exclaimed.

The car pulled up to a normal-looking building. "Alright, we're here now." The man pulled out 5 dark strips of cloth. "That's odd, I only have 5. Oh, wait a minute we have extras here, don't we." The man tied blindfolds around Fang, Max, Emily, Jeffery, and me. "Ah."

The man cut off 2 pieces of cloth from his suit. "I really don't want to do this, but I must. Goodbye, 500 dollars." Then he blindfolded Nudge and Gazzy. "Okay, let's go." He led us into the building and around corners and into an elevator until we finally got to where he wanted us. The man untied our blindfolds. Here we are.

We were in a dark room with thick walls. A short woman with curly black hair, a lab coat, and gloves was sitting in a chair. "Thank you Chris." The man left the room and the woman said, "Ah, I was expecting you."


	13. Chapter 12c

**Hi. I'd like 7 reviews before I even think of posting chapter 13.  
**

Chapter 12

"Who are you?" Max asked. "My name is Dr. Louisa VanFinklijinki." Fang and Gazzy giggled. "Quiet!" Louisa snapped. "Yes Dr. VanFinklijinki." Gazzy snickered. "You can call me Dr. V." Max, Nudge, and I stared at Gazzy and Fang. They always knew how to make a bad situation worse.

"What have you done with Iggy?" Nudge cried. "Nothing yet. He's sleeping right now, actually, in the hibernating room." That didn't sound good. "Hibernating room?"

"Yes, that's right, hibernating room. It's where we do experiments on your type and such." What did she mean your 'type and such?' "Can we see him?" Nudge asked. "Not now. But I do want to show you something." The same man we met at the Washington Memorial came in.

"Not now Chris!" Dr. V. screamed. "There's a problem in room 317 compartment 7!" Dr. V. rolled her eyes. "Okay, I'm coming. You guys, stay here." She locked the door and left.

"Do you think Iggy will be okay?" Emily asked. "I hope so." I said. We all looked nervous. Nudge and Jeffery were hugging nervously, Max looked as pale as a ghost, and Fang and Gazzy; though trying to act manly; were shaking in their seats.

"What is this place?" I asked. "It's probably a science lab. A secret science lab." Jeffery said. A science lab. We had enough experience for a lifetime in science labs. We didn't need to be in another one.

Dr. V. came back in. "I wanted to show you this. Hold on." She pressed a few buttons on her cell phone and then showed it to us. "It's a video." The video showed the president on it. It was obviously a top secret video.

"Good evening, elite scientists, compartment C100657K. This recording reveals a top secret plan that is extremely dangerous and risky." The president said. "We will be embarking on experiments on creatures only associated within the darkest of myths." Then he went on about ways to arrange DNA, stuff I really couldn't comprehend.

Then he said something that caught my attention, "Scientists, I urge you to collect these horrid creations in your lab and carry out Plan XY: Operation Destroy." The screen darkened and Dr. V. put her phone away.

Operation Destroy. That didn't sound pleasant. I also didn't like how he called us horrid creatures. We were 98 human! Besides, it wasn't our fault we are like the way we are! I was filled with anger and fear. Who could the president support this?

A man with dark shades opened the door. "Ma'am, the chamber is ready. Which two shall we take their first?"

"Take the young one and the one with the green hair. And ask Frank to dispose of the extras, you know the non-angels." The man with the dark shades led us down the dark hallway into a glass room with 2 seats and a fan on top. Right outside, there was a group of scientists operating dials and buttons.

One scientist told us to strap ourselves to the seat as tightly as possible. We nervously strapped ourselves as I squeezed Nudge's hand. "Begin operation!" The man who brought us here bellowed.


	14. Chapter 13

**Ok. No chapter 14 until I get 6 reviews, even if it takes forever. No seriously, review please.  
**

Chapter 13

I braced myself for the worse. The fan on the ceiling turned on. I was going to die, I knew I was. Hey, wait a minute! Nothing was happening to me. "Nudge?" I yelled over the loud fan, "We're okay. Nothing happened to us!" I felt the wondrous feeling of relief and gratefulness.

"Yeah, but my hair is ruined." Nudge laughed. I wasn't going to die! At least not today...

A dark-haired scientist led us back to the original room, where we met Dr. V. "What happened?" She screamed. "Ma'am, we don't know, it just-" She led him to the door. "I demand a full report of this. Meet me in Conference Room C in ten minutes, oh and bring all of the scientists responsible for chamber G, too." They left the room.

"What happened?" Max asked. "Nothing, thank goodness, whatever that thing was, it malfunctioned." Nudge explained. "Hey, where's Jeffery?" I looked around and noticed he was gone. "And Emily?"

Max held back her tears. "They were taken somewhere. We don't know. Dr. V. said to take them to cell 3 or something." We sat in silence for the next few minutes. "We must get out of here. Even if that thing that was supposed to kill us never gets fixed, I'm sure they have other things that are much worse." I said.

"We have to devise a plan. We must outsmart these scientists." Gazzy said. "That's impossible." Fang declared. "There are tons of them! This is a huge building, and I bet that there are tons of secret hallways and things like that."

"Oh Fang, you always were the pessimist. But you're right; we'll have to come up with a kick-butt plan." Nudge said. "Okay, what if we beat them all up?!" Fang suggested. We all stared at him. "Seriously. These scientists are wimps. And that Dr. V. she's so out of shape it's not even funny."

"Yeah," I reminded, "but they have very strong guards, probably armed, at this facility. I don't think we should risk it." We all thought. "I know!" Nudge said. "This plan will involve distracting the scientists, but one or two of us may be captured. I know that these scientists are trying to experiment with our bodies, see what rough conditions we can tolerate, inject us with fatal chemicals, and even rearrange our systems"

"Whoa! How do you know that?" Gazzy asked. "Didn't you pay attention to the video? Anyway, on escaping..."

Dr. V. walked in. "What are you all up to?" My heart skipped a beat. "Nothing, we were just wondering what you did to our friends." She smiled cruelly. "It doesn't matter. You'll find out soon enough. Now, you, without wings. You're Max, right?" She squired. "Yes… ma'am."

"Ah, tell me why you removed my wings." The rest of us gathered around. We all wanted to know this. "Because…" I knew this was making Max feel uncomfortable. "Because I didn't like the way I looked." Dr. V. smiled again. "I see. Well, young lady, come with me. Oh don't be afraid." They walked out of the room.

"Oh no." I said. "Look, maybe it's not bad. Maybe they like her because she elected to take off her wings." Gazzy suggested. "I hope so. Anyway, I must finish discussing my plan. Dr. V. can come back any moment now." Nudge took out a scrunched up piece of paper from her pocket.

"How come it says, UGLEE345 on the back?" Fang asked. "It was my raffle ticket at the Metallica concert. Guess I forgot to take it out of my jeans. _Anyway_ this is my plan. Anyone got a pen?" I handed her an almost dry purple pen.

"Okay, I'm a circle, Angel will be the star, Gazzy the dot, and Fang the heart." Nudge started drawing those symbols on the paper. "Why should I be a heart?" Fang protested. "Because it's easy to draw and if you don't let me finish, you can be the pretty unicorn. Now, who will distract them?"

"I can do that." I volunteered. "Okay, you make a run to the right out the door when Dr. V. comes back, while Fang and Gazzy go out the left. I'll help you out if it doesn't work." She drew all of that on the paper. We heard footsteps.

"Okay, we don't have time to think this out. We must do this now. Good luck, Angel sweetie." Nudge hugged me, her green hair brushing my face. The door opened. "Hello, did you miss me?" Dr. V. asked. This was my move.

"Actually, I didn't. And I'll never have to see your ugly face again." I ran out the door. "You stupid, mutant brat!" Dr. V. chased me down the hallway. Fang was right, Dr. V. was out of shape. I saw Fang, Gazzy, and Nudge escape.

"Security, help!" Dr. V. screamed. After a few seconds, bulky guards caught me and took me to what looked like a prison. "Hope the rats don't eat you alive." One guard said, throwing me into a cell and locking the door.

"Angel?" It was Jeffery. "Jeffery! What are you doing here?" I was so glad to see that he was alright. "They threw Emily and I in here. Then we met Iggy." I looked behind me and saw Emily and a very worn-out version of Iggy. He lifted up his right arm weakly. "Hey."

"Iggy! You're alright." I hugged him. "How's Fang?" He asked. "Fine, just his grumpy self." Iggy let out a faint laugh. "Figures."

"What have they been doing to you guys?" I asked. "Not really anything, to Jeffery and I yet. From what we heard, they plan to do operations and tests on us." Emily said. "But I did hear one alarming thing. They want to do massive study on Max. They want to put her in a Freezer of some sort!" Iggy gulped. "They mean the hibernation room. They see if you could survive being frozen for a while."

"Anyway, where is the rest of the Flock?" Iggy asked. "I don't know, I distracted Dr. V. while letting them escape." Iggy spat. "Don't ever mention that name in this cell again! She injected me with diseases to see who well I could fight them! I think I'm getting over the 'Dallas Plague' just have a slight fever."

A scientist with bottle-cap glasses came to the cell door. "Angel?" He scanned the cell for me. "Follow me." I noticed that 2 bodyguards accompanied him, just in case I tried to pull a fast one again.

"Angel, get ready, you're going into surgery." The scientist said. "I- I the government can't allow this! This is inhumane!" The scientist smiled. "Ah, but they don't. Only the president knows of this. The rest of the government has no idea. We're doing this right under their noses. The Second-hand Mismatched Sock Store Headquarters our sign outside reads. As if! Although, that type of business would be handy…"

"Anyway, lie down on that gurney over there." The scientist opened the door of a room that read Medical Ward. A short, stubby woman put a mask on my face. It was anesthesia! "No! I won't let you do- this." I was feeling tired. What if I took just a little nap. No, must remain awake. Must- I fell asleep right then and there not knowing what I had in store for me next, or even if I'd make it through to the next day.


	15. Chapter 14

**Hi. This is chapter 14. I'd like readers to review please. Reviews are the best thing a writer can ask for. So read, review, and enjoy. Oh, and also vote on my poll.**

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Chapter 14

I woke up. I was back in my cell and Iggy, Emily, and Jeffery were staring at me. "We thought we lost you." Jeffery said. "What did they do to me?" I asked. "I don't know, something with your stomach. I sat up. "AHH!" I screamed in pain. I had to lie back down.

"You have bandages all over your lower torso." Jeffery said. "If you start to see weird things, or have intense headaches let the scientists know."

"Why?" I asked. "They get frantic and take you out of your cell and into a larger room with a 100 inch plasma screen T.V. The down side is they do tons of tests on you." Why? What did headaches and hallucinations mean to them?

That same scientist with the bottle-capped glasses opened the door. Behind him was that portly lady who gave me the anesthesia was behind him. "Iggy, come with me." He said. "And um… Emily, come with Darla over there." What did they need Emily for? She didn't have wings! She should never have came with us in the first place.

After they left, I noticed Jeffery in the corner crying. "What is it, are you worried about Nudge?" I asked him. Jeffery started bawling intensely. I walked over to him. It felt like there were pieces of glass inside of me. "She'll be fine." I comforted him. "I know, she's a fighter, but…"

"But what?" I patted him on the shoulder. "It's too much." He started crying again. "It doesn't matter, we'll make it through this, then you'll marry Nudge and everything will be alright." Jeffery took a deep breath. It burned me to say it, but I had too. "You and Nudge were meant for each other."

"That's the problem. I mean I love Nudge, she's a great girl; nice, spunky, caring. But I can't marry her." I was totally taken aback. "But why?" I managed. "I don't know, I just don't feel the chemistry anymore. Haven't felt it for about seven months or so." He buried his hands in his face.

"But, why, why did you marry her?" I asked. "Well, I guess that I though things would eventually get better. Also, I didn't want to break up with her and if I said no... well you know. But now I realize that it will never work out between us because I love someone else more."

"Who?" I asked. "You."

"Me?" I felt on top of the world. "If you don't love me, I can understand." I hugged him. "I do love you!"

"I know that this may not be the best time to ask but: will you go out with me?" I asked. "Yes of course, but Nudge…"

"You can tell her when we see her again."Jeffery sighed. "_If_ we see her again."

"We will make it! All of us will." I consoled him and eventually fell asleep. When I woke up, Iggy was back but Emily was not. All that Iggy would tell us was that he endured a few tests and didn't want to talk about it. He said that he hadn't seen Emily, but had a surprise for us.

"We're all getting blood tests in room 314 in an hour." He started. "Great surprise." I muttered. "But wait until you get to room 314."

"Why?" I asked. "Just wait." I groaned in pain. "Are Max and my brother there?" He nodded. "Well, I'd better rest up." Iggy went into a corner and took a nap.

Jeffery approached me and we talked again. We talked about what these scientists would eventually do with us and if we ever got out if the Erasers would continue hot on our trail.

"All I hope is that we're all okay." I said. I started to cry. I knew Emily was probably being tortured and the rest of them, they could still be in some danger.

Jeffery comforted me and assured that everything would turn out okay. Our lips met. Oh, Jeffery was a great kisser. Wow. Even though we were kissing in a jail cell, it felt no different than any other romance. Nothing could ruin this moment. "I love you." I said. "Me too." We kept this up for about five more minutes.

"Guys?!" Iggy asked. I jumped back about ten feet. "Wait a minute. I may be blind, but I know when Angel is stealing Nudge's fiancée."

"Look, I just…" Jeffery started. "You never officially broke it off with Nudge." Iggy was appalled. "Angel, how could you do anything like this to another member of the Flock. Nudge will be devastated."

"Oh, like you've never done anything horrible to another member of the Flock. I don't know, maybe like Fang!" I shouted. Iggy was about to shout something nasty, but was interrupted.

"Alright, enough shouting!" A hunched over, gray-haired scientist opened our cell door and with two guards, escorted us to room 314. When we entered the room, I was surprised at what I saw.


	16. Chapter 15

**Hi. I've noticed that my hits have gone up, but not my reviews. PLEASE review and please vote on my poll. Thank you and here's:**

Chapter 15

We entered the room. There was a pinball game, and a few old Pac man games. This was a Recreation Room! But why? After putting us in cells and doing experiments on us, they give us a recreational room? Okay.

I looked around, Nudge and Max, were watching Gazzy beat some scores in a Pac man game. My brother always did love those ancient cheesy arcade games.

Nudge came up and hugged us. "Oh, you're okay. Iggy, I'm so glad that you're back." What was going on? Was I dreaming? Fang ran into me and knocked me down. Ouch. Nope, definitely not a dream. "Whoops!" Fang laughed as I rolled my eyes.

A scientist came in and told all of us to sit down. "Now this won't hurt." He stuck a needle in all of our arms and collected our blood. "Wait, what is all of this for?" I asked. "You can't be under too much pressure with you're implants. This is to take your mind off of things." Implants? Was that what the surgery was for. "Implants, did I saw _implants_ ha ha, I uh, meant to say_ eggplants. _Don't go near eggplants, you're allergic." He quickly ran out of the room. Wow. Great cover up. He should do improv.

"Implants?" I asked. "Wait a minute, did you guys all get surgery?" I asked. "Yeah, they eventually caught us and put us on a gurney." Fang said. "Wait, wait, wait. Just describe how you felt afterward. Apparently, all of them felt the same sharp stomach pains that I did. "Wait, a minute _I _never had this surgery_._" Jeffery said.

"Oh I get it! You, you must be used as a control!" Nudge said. "Whaaa?" Gazzy asked. "You know, in science! Didn't you ever pay attention in fifth grade science?" Gazzy shook his head.

"Jeffery must be used to compare a normal person to all of us. I am a science major, you know. I learned these things." Nudge a science major?! So here was a woman with bright green hair, piercings, tattoos, punk clothing, and a science major? Hmm… interesting. When she left for college, she wanted to become a lawyer. She was really suited for law at that time but now, I had no idea who she was or what she was suited for.

"Look, they obviously don't want us dead- yet." Nudge said. "That's comforting." Fang remarked. "I do think we can get out of here. Someone is bound to find out about us sometime. We can escape and then- I was thinking about our wedding, Jeffery. We can all escape. Then we can get married, and then take a honeymoon to Hawaii, or no London, well I'm not sure but-" Nudge turned to Jeffery. Uh-oh! Jeffery nervously squirmed. I squeezed his hand tightly and whispered, "What are you waiting for?" In his ear. "It will be okay."

"We should have a black wedding cake, black is in. Oh, and decorations-" Jeffery interrupted her. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that's not possible."

"Oh, okay, then how about we go with your choice of cake then, I'm flexible." Nudge said. Jeffery sighed. "No, I meant that there won't be a wedding between us. You must understand, this is very difficult for me. I'm sorry Nudge, I loved every second that we spent together but, don't think that I didn't, but it's for the best of us. Here's you're ring back." He handed her the ring she gave him at that lodge in Tennessee. "I'm really sorry but I'm sure that you'll come to realize that we weren't meant for each other. In the long run, this is best."

Nudge looked shocked. "Did, you find someone you love more?" Jeffery looked down. "Well, yes. I'm going out with Angel, now." There was a river of tears streaming down from Nudge's red blotchy face. "Well, there happens to be something that I have to tell you. I'm pregnant! The scientists told me after my operation! I was about to tell you the good news! Obviously you'd rather make out with Angel than celebrate with me." Nudge pouted and ran to the pinball game and crawled under it.

We all looked at each other. "Pregnant?" Jeffrey looked like he was about to faint. "Oh no this is definitely not good."

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**I'll try to make this easy. 3 reviews before chapter 16 please. **


	17. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

A day had passed. The scientists had done a few more tests on us, but nothing that major. No one had said a word since Nudge told us her news. I decided that I had to break the silence and that I had to go and talk to her.

"Nudge?" I asked. I saw her hiding under the pinball table. "Nudge?" I cautiously tapped her on the shoulders.

"Go away!" She screamed. Max and the rest of them were staring at me. "Can we have some privacy?!" I asked. They turned away and started to talk.

"You can't stay there forever. That can't be good for you!" I started. "I can stay here as long as I want to. You can't make me move!" Ah, there was the Nudge I knew, tough and stubborn.

"Look, it's not my fault. I- I didn't know that it would get this far. Look, I was just trying to comfort him. He was scared. We both were. It was a tense situation." I started. "I don't care!" Nudge screamed. "You know what, I'm sorry that I had to meet you again. I lent you my clothes, if you needed me I was there, I did all sorts of nice things, and how did you repay me?" Nudge pushed me.

Jeffery ran over. "Nudge, it's not entirely her fault…" Nudge burst into tears. "Yeah. It's your fault too. Well if you're going to marry me, I must forgive you."

"Marry you?" Jeffery asked. "Yeah, I'm pregnant, aren't I. Besides, you never officially called off the engagement." Nudge had a triumphant grin on her face. "Look, it's not that I don't like you but…"

"It would be irresponsible! Would you like our new kids to grow up like this, with their father going with Angel That wouldn't be right!" The rest of the Flock stopped and stared. "Kids?" They asked. "Yeah, that's right. I'm pregnant with twins! Jeffery how could I handle twins on my own?" Jeffery thought. I could tell that this was really hard for him. I put my arm around him.

"You're right Nudge, I'm sorry Angel. I- I should've called it off sooner, but now I realize that I truly love you." Jeffery didn't sound too convincing, but I couldn't believe my ears. "I'm sorry too honey." Nudge smiled triumphantly. "I turly love you too."

"Jeffery?" I held back my tears. "Angel, you have to understand what I'm going through." Jeffery kissed me on the forehead as tears streamed down my cheeks. How could he marry Nudge? I thought he said that he didn't love her anymore! I know that Nudge was pregnant, but still! Also, this wouldn't only affect me. Jeffery looked miserable. If he married Nudge, his life would be ruined forever.

Streams of emotions ran through my veins. I was angry, depressed, heart-broken, confused, and so much more. I didn't know what to feel.

"Okay, medical testing time." Dr. V. opened the door. She smiled wickedly. "Okay, let's separate into groups. Hmm… I know. How about Max, Iggy, and Fang in room 317b and Jeffery, Nudge, and Angel in room 319." That monster!

"Okay, Greenie, Lover boy, and the ugly one, follow me. The rest of you stay in here. Mr. Mojinaya will come for you guys." I swear, Dr. V. was really asking for it. If I wasn;t afraid for my life, I'd punch her so hard, I swear!

Dr. V. led us to a tiny room with two dusty old chairs. "Sit. Wherever you please."

Nudge and I headed for the same chair at the same time. "Mine." I shouted like a three-year-old. "Let's let Jeffery decide." Dr. V. suggested.

"Uh, here take my chair. I'll sit on the floor." Jeffery said. A scrawny scientist, who with her acne looked no older than sixteen, came inside with three large needles. "Okay, now I'd like you stretch out your left arms."

The scientist filed two of the needles with a grayish liquid. The other with a clear one. For the first time, I didn't care if I this experiment killed me. I had already lost what mattered to me.

I didn't feel any different after the shot. As a matter of fact, I started to feel happy, kind of like a drunk happy.

"Will this kill me?" I asked starting to laugh. "No." The scrawny scientist answered. "Well, maybe." I knew I should've been worried, but I felt happy.

"Will this harm Nudge's babies?" Jeffery asked. "Babies? Who has babies?" Nudge pointed to her belly. "I do." Why didn't the scientists know? You'd think that change the experiments a little. "Oh no, they should be fine." The scrawny scientist talked to Dr. V. outside.

I started dancing around. "Angel, are you okay?" Jeffery asked. I started t spin around. Something wasn't right. I felt tingling pains all over my body. "Get her a chair!" I heard a faint Jeffery say. The room was all colorful.

For a time frame unknown to me, I experienced a surreal world. Unsure of where I was, I finally snapped out of it. Oh no. I was in our original cell and Nudge, Max, Fang, and Jeffery were staring down at me.

"Where am I?" I asked. "Medical jail cell. You're stuck here until they do more experiments where they suck out your brain." Fang said. "Suck out my brain?" I had a huge headache, what did they do to me?

"He's over exaggerating." Max said. "You've been in here for nearly 2 days with us! They gave you brain surgery." I slowly sat up. "Where are Iggy and Gazzy? And did you see Emily yet?" I asked.

"No news of Emily. The last we saw of your brother, he was going to some water room. And Iggy, some optic surgery." Max said.

"Should we tell her?" Jeffery asked. "Yeah, tell her. She can deal with it." Nudge exclaimed. "What? What's going on?" They all looked at each other. "They said thatif you survived that you will go to 'The Lab' and from what we heard from the scientists, there's a 2.3 chance of survival." Max hugged me.

"Let's see if our Angel survived." Dr. V. called. "Ah yes, she survived. Congratulations. Now we can go to the lab. So come on Angel."

"Bye bye Angel." Nudge called. "I hope you live. If not, can I have all of your stuff?" I swear, sometimes I wanted to kill Nudge and recently, I've been wanting to kill Nudge all of the time. This was no exception.

"Oh, don't worry. There will be immense waiting periods between tests so, I know! How about we bring you, Nudge to keep her company in between! See, you'll have a friend, Angel. Won't that be great?!" I eyed Nudge angrily. "Well, let's go. Our equipment just got sharpened!"

Dr. V. led us down a flight of stairs. "Oh, and I have a surprise for you." She said. What? I wondered sarcastically, knowing it wouldn't be good. "I'll be participating in this experiment! I'll actually be doing it."

She led Nudge to a steal room with no windows. It looked like a safe. "You, you come with me." We walked into a room with an army cot. "Make yourself comfortable." A scientist gave me anesthesia. The last sight I saw was that scientist with a large knife in one hand and a sharp needle in the other.


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

I woke up. I had survived. Somehow I had survived with a 2.3% chance. Lucky me. Of course I knew that it wasn't all over yet.

"Well, well don't you look great." Nudge remarked. "What?" I asked. Nudge pulled a pocket mirror out of her pocket. My hair was a mess, my face was dirty, and my body scarred. I groaned.

"Thanks to you, I'm stuck in here with nothing to do and the meals they give us are terrible and are loaded with calories and trans fat! Also, they don't have vegetarian options." Nudge complained. "Oh, well at least you aren't getting torn apart by evil scientists!" I exclaimed.

"Oh, but I will. They keep promising that I'm next! Ugh! Where's Jeffery? I miss my fiancée." She emphasized the word fiancée. "Oh don't you even bring that up!" I screamed.

"You know, you shouldn't make Jeffery marry you." I said. "I'm not, he just knows that he made a mistake and he can't resist me. He practically _begged_ to have me back!"

"Oh come on, he did not beg! Now he's depressed that he's stuck with you." Nudge pushed me.

"Settle down now." The scientist with the bottle-cap glasses said. I was taken again to a medical testing room. "Oh great, what are you doing to me this time?" I asked. A scientist handed me what looked like a peppermint.

"No more tests for today after this one if you eat this." He promised. I shrugged, might as well. It wasn't a peppermint at all. It tasted chemically and it burned my throat as I swallowed it.

I coughed and a ball of fire came out of my mouth. "Water." I screamed. The fire scorched my throat. I needed to drink _were_ they doing to me? I was already a bird-like creature, now I was a fire-breathing thing too.

The scientist tossed me a bucket of water and I drank it all. Ahh. It felt like a cool waterfall going down my throat. "Hmm… Angel, we'll see you in two hours." The scientist said. "Hey! You said that there would be no more tests on me."

"I did say that, but this won't be a test, it will be an operation. It's for your own good."

"Angel, I can't believe you can breathe fire. At least it's for the best. This way, even if Jeffery did love you he wouldn't have to put up with you. Think about what would happen if you kissed..." I told her to shut it. We didn't talk much after that. Then, that same scientist led me back to the lovely steel room where Nudge was crying in the corner opposite the hard cot. Her hands were tied behind her back.

"Oh. You're back. What they do to you?" Nudge asked. "It doesn't matter. What did they do for you?" I asked coolly.

"They tied my arms up because I tried to escape. They said if I wasn't a vital part of my experiment, they would've killed me!" She shuttered. "Here, let me help you." I tried to untie the rope. "Who did this?" I asked.

"Dr. V." Nudge replied. "Was she in the navy or something?" This knot was impossible. "Oh, you have to get me out of here." She exclaimed. "Brace yourself." I said. This was going to hurt. After how she stole Jeffery from me, I really didn't feel like it, but somehow I felt it necessary.

I coughed and a ball of fire burnt the rope and apparently it burned so quickly, that Nudge's shirt was on fire. "Stop drop and roll!" I screamed. We frantically smothered the fire. The room was very smoky and I started to cough.

"Watch it, you'll burn this whole place down!" Nudge eyed the fire coming out of my mouth. "Water." I said hoarsely. "We don't have anymore." I groaned.

"So, how are you holding up?" I asked. She said that she was fine, but she didn't look it. She had bags under her eyes and looked extremely tired. Also the hair that was a vibrant green just a few days ago was now a faded green that seemed to complement her mood with highlights of her natural black hair.

"Um, how are the twins treating you?" I asked. "Twins? Oh yeah, I'm okay. Do I look fat?" I felt like saying yes but I knew that that was not the time to hold grudges.

"No, so when are you due again?" Nudge patted her belly. "Late February."

"So, what do plan to name them? Do you know if they're identical, or fraternal? Are they boys, girls, or one of each?" I started. "Look enough about my babies, okay!"

"I'm sorry, okay. I just don't feel like talking." Neither of us said a word for about an hour. Then the same scientist with the bottle-capped glasses came and took me to the operating room.

"Just tell me what you're going to do, okay?" I wanted to at least know what they were doing. "Okay, if you must know, we're cutting you're throat. Now shut up and turn around."

"What?" I asked. "Turn around; I have to give you a shot. We can't give you anymore anesthesia." I turned around and he gave me a shot in my lower back. I fell asleep and had a dream of Nudge and Jeffery's wedding.

After the wedding dream I had a dream of Nudge's twins where I was their nanny. Yuck! "Angel, Angel, wake up!" Someone was shaking me violently. I opened my eyes and again I was back in the cell. This time, though, it wasn't just Nudge in my cell.


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

"Angel?" It was Iggy. I screamed. Iggy had these huge buggy glasses on his eyes and a bandage wrapped around his head.

"You're awake!" I rubbed my eyes. "Yeah, I am. What's up?" I looked around. Nudge was standing next to Max, Fang,and Gazzy. Iggy was kneeling beside me. All of them looked extremely excited.

"Well?" I asked. "What's up with those glasses, Iggy?" He smiled. "The doctors did a corrective surgery on my optic nerve and now I can see, but I have to wear theses glasses for a few weeks. My vision is still a little blurry, but doctors say it will improve with time. I'll be able to see just like you."

"That's great, Iggy. What do you think of the world now?" I asked. "I can see colors. I didn't realize what I was missing out on. I realize one thing now, that is how ugly Fang is, though." Fang pushed Iggy hard. Iggy laughed. "I also can see Nudge. Man, her hair and piercings are quite a combination." Nudge and Fang frowned at him.

"Can you see perfectly?" I asked then realizing how stupid a question that was. He didn't know what perfect was. Duh! "I guess, I can see colors, and shapes. Like I said, a little blurry even up close. But, if something's more than about ten inches away, I can barely make that thing out."

"Unfortunately, my first sight was some nerdy scientist with pimples. My next sight was Dr. V. She's not exactly a looker." I laughed. "Well, I'm glad for you." I said.

"Come on, breath fire! Breathe fire. Breathe fire!" Fang chanted. "No, it burns my throat."

"Come on sis, do it!" Gazzy said. "Oh fine." I inhaled and quickly exhaled. This time, instead of little balls of fire, a huge durable flame came out of my mouth. "Whoa." Iggy, Fang, and Gazzy said. I noticed something else. It didn't burn my throat as much as it did before.

"Hey, it doesn't hurt very much, when I breathe fire." I said. "Yeah, they probably coated your esophagus." Nudge said. "Now let's all shut up, okay?!" Nudge yelled. Fang saw an opportunity to make his move.

"Nudge, are you okay?" Fang tried to hug Nudge but she pushed him out of the way. That was so out of character: Fang hugging! "Look, I'm fine." Fang stared at us. "A little privacy!"

We turned away as Max and I made conversation. "What do you think Fang is trying to do?" Max asked me. "He loves her and he's taking advantage of Nudge and Jeffery's rocky situation." I answered. "Hey look!" Max pointed to Fang.

Fang kissed Nudge right on the lips. "I love you." Fang said dreamily. Everyone was shocked. Wow. Fang kissed Nudge. We were even more surprised to see Nudge slap Fang across the face. "Get away from me you creep. You're not making me feel any better about anything and you are not making me love you. As a matter of fact, I hate you! How dare you kiss me?! I'm engaged!"

Nudge threw herself on the hard cot. "I don't want to look at you again!" She screamed. Fang ran to the opposite corner and buried his face in his arms.

"Man, you just got burned!" Iggy said to Fang. "You idiot! You know what, you're the worst, stupidest, ugliest, jerk I've ever met. No wonder our joke shop didn't work out. It's all your fault." Max and I stared at each other.

Wow. Fang's emotions were going completely out of hand. He's never been this upset that I could remember, anyway. He must really love Nudge. Fang hesitated and then hit Iggy in the face. "Loser!"

"Look who's talking." Iggy shouted. Max quickly sought to it to make sure that there wouldn't be a fight. Iggy and Fang pouted off to separate corners of our cell.

What a great day this was turning out to be. Fang, Iggy, and Nudge were all crying or having tantrums in their own corners and Max, Gazzy and I were in the other corner. With the rest of them like they were, we knew that we didn't want to mess with them. I hoped that for the sake of the Flock, this would all be resolved as soon as possible.

About an hour later, a fire alarm rang. Fang, Iggy, and Nudge peeked out from their corners. "What's going on, Max?" Nudge asked. "How should I know? I think the building's on fire! I smell smoke!"

"We're trapped." I screamed. "What are we going to do?" We were all going frantic, panicking and running in circles. All of the sudden, the cell door opened. It was Emily. "But how…" I started. "Not now." She said. "Get out of here and I'll explain."


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Emily guided us out of the cell and motioned for us to follow her. I escaped a few hours ago. "Some scientist gave me super strength." She explained. "They put me in a barred cell and I eventually punched each bar until I could escape. Then, I snuck upstairs and set fire to Dr. V.'s office to cause a diversion." I noticed Emily's red and blistered fists.

"That's great, except we're going to be burned alive!" Fang said. "No, we won't. We'll climb up to the roof and figure it out from there. I saw them take Jeffery upstairs. They said that he'd be going to the Freezer. Let's go!" Emily led us upstairs.

"Now where's Jeffery?" Emily asked. "You tell me. You led us here." Fang replied. "Uh, okay, which of these rooms could be the freezer?"

"Maybe the one with the freezer exhaust coming out of it." Nudge said. "Great thinking." We cautiously opened the door to that room. "Jeffery!" Nudge screamed. Jeffery was lying unconscious on a slanted table.

Iggy held Nudge back. "Wait, don't go in there, the temperatures are extreme and can give your frostbite, or even kill you if you're exposed to them."

"Kill! I have to save Jeffery." Nudge run into the room.

"I have to save her." Fang said. "Maybe there's something that turns the freezer off." Fang searched for it while, Nudge sneezed. "I feel like I'm going to faint."

"Nudge, you're going to catch hypothermia! Let me rescue Jeffery." I ran into the freezer. Brr… It was really cold. I grabbed Jeffery and tried to carry him out of the freezer room.

"He's, -ah-CHOO- mibe to rescue. Ah-CHOO! My fiancée, I get to rescue hib!" Nudge managed. "Uh, I don't mean to interrupt you, but the building is on fire still!" Emily called out. Right.

"Oh, and since Jeffery's unconscious it really doesn't matter who rescues him. He won't know! Now hurry up!" Max screamed. Nudge and I picked up Jeffery and tried to rush out of the freezer room, but Nudge slipped and couldn't get up.

I was holding Jeffery and Nudge was stuck. I couldn't rescue both of them. "I need help now!" I screamed. Fang ran into the room grabbed Nudge, and ran back out.

"You saved Nudge." I said as I pulled Jeffery out of the room. "Thank you." Nudge said coolly.

"Come on! We need to escape! The building's on fire!" Max screamed. We could smell the smoke and feel the heat from below us. "I don't trust the floor." I said. "Just follow me up to the roof!" Emily pulled us up the stairs.

A few flights later, we were on the roof. The floors below us were on fire. Emily looked scared. I knew how much she hated heights. "Look! The firefighters are coming."

"Okay. What do we do now?" Gazzy asked. "Well, you can fly." Emily suggested. "That's great, except what about us?" Max screamed. "Can you fly while carrying us?" Max asked to no one in particular.

"No." Iggy said.

"Come on! Try." Emily begged. I picked up Max and Gazzy picked up Emily. "Fly!" I screamed. Emily was covering her eyes while Max was ecstatic.

"I-I don't know what I was thinking, removing my wings. I can't believe how much…" Max started. "How much you missed it, I know. Now, I think we should dive down. It's getting kind of smoky here." I said to Fang, Gazzy, and Iggy.

We swooped down and landed near the fire truck. "Now what?" Gazzy asked. "Now I think we should wait and…" I heard footsteps. It was Dr. V. Did she know we were here?" I held my breath. Dr.V. walked away. Phew…

"Get them! They're the arsonists. Get them I saw them over there!" Dr. V. screamed. "What should we do?" Emily asked. "Run, but split up. She can't catch us all." I declared.

"She has many people. I'm sure they could catch us and try to stick with someone else no matter what happens." Max said. Max ran off with Fang, Gazzy ran off with Emily and Iggy, and I was stuck with Nudge and the still unconscious Jeffery. We glared at each other and ran as fast as we could.

We looked around for refuge. Nothing around. "Keep running!" Nudge shouted. "I can't I'm holding Jeffery, remember?"

"Fine, I'll hold him just let's fine somewhere safe." A taxicab rushed by. Nudge jumped in front of the taxi driver said, "Sorry, I'm taken." There was a four-year-old kid and probably his mother in the car. "Please, just let us in!" We opened the door and hopped in. "Excuse me!" The woman screamed.

"Please! We're escaping our mother. She's mad that I'm marrying this guy and she's going to beat me!" Nudge cried. "Well, we're heading to the Smithsonian, but I guess if you wanted to come with us…"

The cab drove off and the little kid stared at Jeffery. "Is he dead?" The kid asked. "No. He's fine just um sleeping!"

"Oh." The cab pulled up to the museum. The lady paid the man and walked out of the car. "Don't I get paid double?" The driver asked. "Sorry." We ran into the museum and pushed through the crowds.

"You know, I've always wanted to visit the air and space museum, but we're in the art museum." Nudge said. "Yeah, well we can go another time. Let's just rest on this bench." I took out my cell phone.

"Who are you calling?" Nudge asked. "Emily." I picked up the phone but it went strait to voicemail. Crud.

"I see police officers, Nudge we must get out of here!" I cried. "But…" I pulled her. "No buts, let's go!" We ran outside and caught a bus. "Do you have any money folks?" The driver asked. We shook our heads. Nudge told the driver the same thing that she told the woman in the taxicab and the driver let us on for free.

"I'm sorry folks you have to get off here." We looked around. We were the last ones on the bus. "Where are we?" I asked.

"Some kind of carnival. Let's see if they have cotton candy!" Nudge and I explored the carnival. "Hey look, a roller coaster. Come on, we have to do something fun to lighten our tension. Also, I'm sorry about everything mean I did with Jeffery and all."

"It's okay." I said, though not completely forgiving her. "Come on let's go." As the bar dropped down I thought of something.


	21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

"Hey Nudge, you realize that this ride isn't for pregnant women." I remarked. "Yeah, people with heart conditions shouldn't ride either. If that's what you mean." I gave Nudge a look. "No, I mean pregnant. Aren't you pregnant with twins? I don't think that riding the rollar coaster is a good idea." Nudge looked sick.

"There's something I have to tell you. I'm not pregnant. I'm sorry Angel I-" I interrupted her. "WHA?!!!" I stared at her as we raced into a loopy-loop. "You're kidding?" Nudge looked down.

"No. I'm sorry, I wanted to tell you I wasn't pregnant, honestly I did." I waited for the screaming to die down so I could answer. "No, no, no! If you wanted to let me know that you weren't pregnant, you never would've told me you were pregnant in the first place!" The ride came to a complete halt and I walked off, holding Jeffery in my arms.

"What were you thinking? What were you thinking?" My chest was about to burst with anger. "I was jealous. Please, you have to forgive me. I just wanted Jeffery to take me back. You must understand. I no that it was wrong but it was the only way that I could win him back. It was the only way Angel."

"This is about Jeffery, is it? Well, did you ever tell Jeffery that you weren't pregnant once he took you back?" Nudge looked ready to cry. "I was going to but, now he's knocked out and… and well, he'd be mad if I told him the truth."

"DUH! Damn right he'd be mad." Some people stopped and stared. I continued, "But he'd be even madder if you didn't tell him. He'd figure it out Nudge, unlike you I know him. I know him well enough to say as a fact that he's not stupid! Do you think that?" By this time Nudge was crying hysterically.

"Did you just think that you could tell such a huge lie and he'd never find out?" Nudge slowly nodded. "Kind of, come on you are overreacting. You're making this a bigger situation than it is. It's not a big deal."

"Angel, Nudge what on earth is going on?" It was Max and Fang. "Oh, hi guys. Glad to see you're alive." I turned back to Nudge. "I swear- you evil, b-"

"Whoa Angel, I've never seen you this mad. What's up?" Fang giggled. "Don't even start. Wait 'till you here Nudge's news." Nudge sobbed, "Please, Angel no! Don't tell them."

"Nudge isn't pregnant with twins." Fang looked at me. "Triplets?" I hit him in the head. "No, not triplets you dummy, she's not pregnant at all." Fang and Max stared at Nudge in shock as I smiled triumphantly.

"Why did you lie about something that huge? This is a big deal." I put my hands on my hips. "See Nudge, this _is_ a big deal."

"Stop it Angel."Max sat Nudge down on a nearby bench. "I wanted Jeffery. I had to, I wasn't ready to let him go yet. Angel, I'm sorry. Please forgive me. We can be friends, right?" I looked her strait in the eye. "You stole Jeffery from me! When Jeffery regains consciousness, I'll tell him what you did."

"Angel, please let's discuss this later. Don't you want to know how we found you? We asked people if they had seen you-" I breathed heavily. "I don't care how you got here, or how you found me!"

"Look, let's just find a nice cozy inn, calm down, relax, and talk this out. Fang and I passed this quaint little inn on the way. Let's go." I was still filled with rage as we stopped at a little drug store to by some sleepwear and toothbrushes, then walked a few blocks and checked in to the motel.

"Nudge, you know what you did to me?" Nudge was lying on her bed. "I know we've discussed this. Besides, it's not like Jeffery wouldn't have begged for me back even if I didn't lie. I'm sure of it!" Max put her shoes on. "I'm going to Fang's room."

"If you're so sure he would've, than why did you need to lie?" Ha! That stumped Nudge. "Because I just felt like it. I needed him back as soon as I could, before he came to his senses, before you ruined his life." Chill Angel, chill. I told myself. I just couldn't. I slapped Nudge across the face. That felt really good.

"Angel! I know you are upset. What Nudge did was terrible. But you just slapped her! Angel. How dare you? I think Jeffery's better off with someone like Nudge, than someone like you. Now goodnight." Max screamed.

That hit me hard. I certainly wasn't expecting that. When I crawled into bed I thought about what she said. I did lose control, but really, I did have a decent reason to lash out at her. I dreamt that night about Dr. V. and somehow, that dream turned into a love fantasy with Jeffery.

"Angel, Angel, wake up!" Max was shaking me. "Come quick." I walked out of the room in pajamas and all. Fang opened the door. "Hey Angel." He eyed me in my pajamas, frizzy hair, and pink slippers.

"Angel?" It was Jeffery. I wanted to hug him, but I remembered Nudge. "Guess what? Nudge has some news for you." Nudge sighed.

"Jeffy, honey, I'm not pregnant at all. I lied. I'm really sorry." Nudge stroked Jeffery's face, but he pulled back. "You lied. You made me leave Angel."

"No honey, you chose to leave her." Jeffery clenched his fists. "Why couldn't you be happy for me? If you really loved me you'd let me be happy with Angel. I can't believe you lied to me. ME! I'm not marrying you. I refuse to. You don't deserve to be loved!" That comment took everyone by shock.

"Jeffery. That was uncalled for. I love Nudge and I believe you're wrong." Fang embraced Nudge. "Fang! I thought that I made myself very clear. I don't love you. Now, stay out of this."

"I'm going to stay out of this as you wish, I'm going to the gym, um be back in an hour or so…" Fang ran out of the room. "I'd better work out too." And Max followed him.

"Like I said, I'm calling this all off. This whole thing. I'm going to prove that I'm over you." Jeffery turned to me. "Angel, will you take me back?" I wanted to teach Nudge a lesson she deserved, but still…

"Jeffery, I'm not going to take you back just because of Nudge." Jeffery stuttered. "No, that's not it, I love you. Please honey!"

"I'm sorry, but I need someone who is guaranteed to stay with me. I think you've learned a very valuable lesson. Now, I'm going to back to my room. It's been fun. Oh yeah, I'm glad you're conscious again. Congrats Jeffery."

I headed back to my room to change. I was glad that I was able to tell Jeffery off in such a calm manner. I really got a lot off my chest.

I don't need him. I told myself. There will be other guys, other guys who love me more than Jeffery did. No matter what I did, the thought of what could have happened if I forgave Jeffery wouldn't escape me.

No matter how much my ego prevented me from admitting it, I still loved Jeffery. I had ruined my opportunity to be with him. After we met up with Emily, Gazzy, and Iggy, he'd have no reason to remain with us and would return to Atlanta. What had I done?

I really needed a drink. I looked at the dresser. Max's wallet caught my eye. _No Angel it's not worth it. You're underage if you get caught_... I tiptoed and grabbed the wallet.


	22. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

I was sitting in the Red Tavern bar across from the hotel. Jeffery was heading on the first thing tomorrow morning to Atlanta. I should've given him another chance! My whole life was a mess.

Nudge was mad at me for revealing her lie, Max was mad at me for slapping Nudge, Fang was also in a mess because Nudge was a mess, and I had no idea were my brother, Emily, or Iggy went or if Dr. V. had captured them.

"One more scotch and two Samuel Adams please." The bartender eyed me. "You've already had two drinks today, miss 'I'm only 17.' Don't make me call 911." I slowly sat up. "You want the money or not? I have thousands upon thousands more where this came from." All of this was putting a strain on me and causing me to be usually moody.

The bartender handed me my drinks. "I hope you're not driving." I shook me head slowly and took the drinks. I chugged the beer and slouched. I felt extremely nauseous and very sluggish. I'd better get back to the hotel.

I took the credit card out of Max's wallet and placed it on the counter. The bartender swiped it and I headed out the door, my head pounding. Maybe Max wouldn't notice that I took her wallet. I looked at the darkening sky. I had spent the whole day in a bar. Nice going. My vision was blurry and every sound was over exaggerated.

It took me an hour to get back to the hotel. Only Max was in my room. "Hey Angel." Max said coldly. I stumbled toward the bed.

"Angel, are you okay?" I nodded slowly. "I'm- fine." I hiccuped. "Angel Ride! Are you drunk?!" I sat down on the bed and then collapsed down. My entire body was aching.

"Angel! Where did you get alcohol anyway? You're underage!" I reached into my pocket and pulled out Max's credit card. "Bribing really- helps." Max came up to me and smacked me. Why did I just tell her that?

She grabbed the card out of my hand. "You're more messed up than I thought! I mean you don't even care that Jeffery, the guy who was good enough for you to bring down Nudge, just left for Atlanta! Well no surprise there! Why would he stay with an idiot like you?! You are 17, Angel. Not only did you steal from me, you are drinking. Drinking underage! Have you lost your mind?" I attempted to sit up, but I couldn't. I felt like I was about to vomit.

"Jeffery left?" I managed.

"If you weren't at the bar getting wasted, then maybe you'd know that! How much money did you use to bribe the bartender anyway?" Max put her hands on her hips. "A thousand dollars. But you're- rich right. It doesn't matter, you- will never notice." I ran into the bathroom and threw up. This was not my day.

"Angel, if you can patch up your life and never ever do this again, I won't call the cops. Now, you're going to rest up, you're going to apologize to Nudge, and you are going to think about what you did." Max called. I stepped out of the bathroom.

"Max, I hate to tell you this, but you can't boss me around anymore. I'm almost of age. You can't tell me how to live my life."

"Well, you can't tell _me_ how to live mine. Therefore, you can't prevent me from calling the cops!" Max pulled out her RazerslickAT3 cell phone and dialed 9-1 on her touch pad. "Don't make me call. I will call." I crawled back into bed. "Fine. I'm sorry."

"I'll check on you in an hour. I'll expect to find you fast asleep." Max shut the door. Stupid Max trying to control me. I couldn't think clearly. I fell asleep and woke up when Max came back.

I felt a little better but still sick. This must be what a hangover was. What would Jeffery think of me if he knew what I had done? Jeffery! "Max, I need to go to Atlanta."

"What? No! we're still looking for your brother, your friend, and Iggy. Did you forget that?" I stood up.

"Max, I made a terrible mistake. You made me realize that." Max shook her head. "Max, there are many things in life you're unsure about especially at my age. But Max, I'm sure about one thing: I love Jeffery. We were made for each other. If I let him go, I'll never forget about it." I paused to see her reaction.

"Go. Go for it." She handed me her credit card. "But don't get into any trouble. I'll be watching my spendings very closely. You are going to find the next flight to Atlanta after you do one thing. Apologize to Nudge."

"She's at the coffee shop down the street. I'm sure you'll find her. Well, I assume that we'll keep in touch. I'm sure I'll see you very soon." I hugged her and ran to find Nudge.

She was at the coffee shop. Her hair was greener and spikier than ever. She must've had it done at a local salon. "Listen Nudge…" Nudge turned around. "About Jeffery…"

"Oh, I now know that we weren't right for each other." She had gotten over him pretty fast. But why? Fang appeared behind her with two coffees. He leaned down and kissed her. So Fang had ended up with her.

Fang looked happier than ever. He had a smile on his face and his hair was pulled back behind the eyes. "Oh, well, I'm going to Atlanta…"

"I know. I knew you would. Jeffery will take you back, you were meant for each other. Here's his address." She handed me a piece of paper. "Good luck girl! Fill his heart with lust." People stared at us and Fang smiled awkwardly. "Uh, yeah, good luck."

I waved goodbye and found a local café with Wi-fi to look up flight times. Let's see, a flight would be leaving in one hour… I'd take it! Jeffery here I come! I smiled and ran to get back my love.


	23. Chapter 22

**In case you were wondering, a major theme of this story is that each character has changed over the years and Angel herself is changing but is wondering whether not change is a good thing. Change is the main theme. **

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Chapter 22

The plane landed in Atlanta and headed on the bus downtown.

I wondered if Jeffery had thought about me at all. Had he moved on? No, he couldn't have, he loved me.

I got off the bus at my stop and walked the two blocks to get to his apartment. I headed up the flight of stairs and banged on his door.

"Hello?" Jeffery opened the door, stared at me, and rushed back inside. "Wait!" I put my shoe down and used it as a doorstop.

"What, Angel?" I noticed that he was avoiding eye contact with me. "Can I come in for a second?" He shrugged.

"Want anything to drink, coffee, tea, orange juice?" I shook my head and made myself comfortable on his large couch as Jeffery sat down next to me.

"Jeffery, I realized how wrong I was and I'm sorry." I started. "Yeah, well thanks. If that's it… then I accept your apology."

"Wait, Jeffery, I realized that when you left I wasn't the same. I was really depressed and I knew that I had done the stupidest thing in my entire life. I would never forgive myself for that. So, I just wanted to tell you that I love you."

"Angel, you were right. I shouldn't have left you because Nudge was, well it was difficult, I- you're right." Jeffery stood up.

"Well, um, that's it I guess I'll leave now, um, yeah…" I headed for the door. "Wait, Angel! Where are you going? This is hard to explain, but…" He kissed me on the lips.

"I understand now." I kissed him. Pretty soon we were making out like crazy. All of the sudden, we were on his bed rolling around. "Wait, Jeffery, we haven't known each other that long, maybe we shouldn't…"

"I don't see why not." Jeffery kissed me. "Come on; think of it as an early birthday present." That's right, my birthday was next week. "No, I'm only 17, surely we can wait another week. If the police find out-"

"Why are you resisting?" He took off his shirt. "I'm not resisting…" What the heck? No one would find out about this.

To tell you the truth, I enjoyed every moment of it. But, I had to stop. I didn't know why I gave in in the first place.

"Hmm…" Jeffery massaged my neck. "What time is it, honey?" I checked the clock. "5:30. P.M." Jeffery stroked my hair and put on his T-shirt.

Wow. We really did it. I searched for my top and jeans and got myself dressed. "I- I have to go." I said.

"Why?" I grabbed my purse. "The Flock, they need me. We haven't found Iggy and Gazzy and Emily…"

"Angel…" Jeffery started. "I'm sorry, I have to go." Everything had happened so fast. Yes, my Flock needed me, but I had to get away from Jeffery.

"Then, I'll go with you." Crap. "Fine. I mean great. Let's catch the next flight out of here." Jeffery sat down.

"Angel, are you okay?" I nodded. "Fine…" He wouldn't buy it. "Angel…" Leave me alone! "I'm just so stressed. My brother, my best friend, and Iggy are still missing. I- I feel guilty for leaving them." Pretty good.

"You feel sorry that you left them, I understand." Jeffery started. "No, not sorry- just guilty. But we will correct that." Jeffery kissed me.

Jeffery found a flight that left at nine, so we had an hour to kill. "Want to go to the park?" He asked.

"That sounds great as long as I'm with you." What was wrong with me? I was in love with Jeffery. What was going on with me? Why did having sex with Jeffery kill everything? Why was I being so ridiculous?

The park was very nice. There was a gentle breeze and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Jeffery bought me a pretzel and we had a pleasant talk until it was time to catch the bus to the airport.

We only had one bag each so we were able to go through the express lane in security. I called Nudge to let her know that we would be coming and she promised to meet us at the airport in Washington.

I took my seat on the plane. I dozed off but woke up an hour later when a flight attendant spilled soda on me. As I got up to stretch my legs and I could've sworn that I heard someone talking about Flyboys, but I could never be sure.

After landing in Washington, we met Nudge "Hey, guys. How was your flight?" She asked. "Fine." We answered.

"Great. Fang's just getting the rental car. Max figured that it would be good to rent a car for a few days. That way, we can search more efficiently for Iggy, Gazzy, and Emily." Nudge led us to the pickup/drop-off area.

"So, I see you got Jeffery back." Nudge whispered. "Yeah." I nodded.

Fang came around in a silver Jaguar. "Hey, get on in." We headed in and Nudge and Fang kissed each other. "Oh Fang…"

We pulled into the inn parking lot and headed upstairs to our room and knocked on the door. "Surprise." Emily answered it.

"Emily!" I hugged her. "We ended up in Maryland. Found out you were here and had to walk all the way. Didn't have any money to rent a car and Iggy broke his wing so, we just walked and slept in parks."

"Iggy broke his wing?" Nudge asked. "Yeah, we were flying, but I flew too low. I banged my wing into a streetlight."Iggy explained as he gently rubbed his cast. Ouch! That sounded painful.

I sat down on my bed next to Nudge and Max.

"So, when did you arrive?" Jeffery asked. "Just about a minute before you guys."

"So, did you have dinner yet?" I asked Max. "No, I was just thinking about that. For lunch I found a good Chinese restaurant. Maybe we can go there."

We headed downstairs and piled into the Jaguar. It was a tight fit, with all 8 of us squished in, but it would only be for a few minutes.

We buckled up and Fang sped off like a maniac. When we got to a red light, Fang decided to run it. Unfortunately, a taxi cab hit into us. I got out of the car at the same time the people from the other car got out.

Wait a minute, only one of them was a person. The rest of them were Erasers.


	24. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

"Erasers. Well, two of them are. One of them is a taxicab driver." I whispered to Nudge. "Holy crap!" She exclaimed.

"Erasers, not again!" I sighed. "What can we do? We're in the middle of the street." A car honked its loud horn. "Oh shut it!" I called back.

"Erasers! We finally are at rest and look what happens!" Iggy exclaimed. "Well, at least now we I can see them." Iggy peered through the window. "Man, they're ugly!"

"What do we do?" Gazzy asked.

"We can fight." Fang suggested. "Are you kidding me, I'm not ready for a fight! We have to, I don't know…" I trailed off. All of the sudden I heard a loud scream. "Help!" The Erasers carried Fang away with their large teeth.

"Fang!" Nudge ran after him. "Nudge, no!" I followed her and Jeffery and the others followed me. "Hey, who's at the car?" Fang asked. "No one, but you have bigger problems than a stupid car!" The Erasers picked up speed.

"Well, now we know what to do, Angel. We will fight." Nudge said in a rather dark voice. She took off into the air with Max and I followed.

"Wait a minute! Iggy, Emily, Jeffery, and Gazzy! They're down there. Iggy can't fly because of his wing and as for Emily and Jeffery, well they never could fly!"

"We have to keep on going, Angel." Nudge screamed. "Um, you too can call me to tell me where you're headed. I'll catch up." I swooped down and ran back towards Iggy, Gazzy, Emily, and Jeffery.

"Gazzy, why didn't you fly with Nudge and I?" I asked. "Emily couldn't walk alone." He said. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, but she has Iggy and Jeffery to keep her company." Gazzy took Emily's arm. "Can we discuss this later?" He begged.

"Yes, later. You can follow us on the ground. I'll join Max and Nudge in the sky, okay. Keep in touch." I looked at Emily. "Keep your phone on."

I called Max. "Max, everyone else will follow on the ground. Which way are you headed?" Max sounded as though she were hyperventilating.

"I don't think that they'll be able to keep up, but we've been going strait due- um- west the whole way. I think we're turning east now and it looks like we'll be heading in this direction for the next few minutes." I put the phone on speaker and took off flying as fast as I could in the cool night air.

I eventually caught up with Max and Nudge, though I was quite winded. "Hi, Angel. Nice chase, ain't it?" Nudge asked sarcastically.

The Erasers brought Fang across town and into a townhouse. We swooped down and chased the Erasers into what appeared to be their home as I collapsed on the floor.

"Get up Angel!" Nudge screamed. "I'm tired!" I complained. "Well, you can sleep later. Let's go!" For that moment Nudge was her bossy old self. To be honest I liked her better like that for some reason.

I picked myself up. "You're right, Nudge. We have to fight."

"Well, well, look what the wind blew in!" An Eraser snarled and lunged at Max, hurling her to the floor. "Max!" I cried.

Max pulled herself up and kicked the Eraser. I just stood there and watched. I hadn't been in a fight for awhile now.

I felt a huge force of weight fall upon me. An Eraser had got me from behind. _Well well, not as good as you used to be are you?_

I tried to pull myself up but it was useless. "Angel! Help Fang! Max's leg is broken and possibly her arm too. I'll fight off the other Erasers. Just go! Take him back to the inn. Maybe get him something to eat. Also, when Fang wakes up, tell him that I love him." Nudge didn't even look in my direction.

"Hurry! Fang needs you!" I threw a punch at the Eraser who was pinning me down. It distracted him, but didn't cause him to let me free. _No escaping this time. Fang and Nudge will become a nice dinner and it will all be your fault._

Fang needed me. I gave one last attempt at breaking free. With all of my strength and power, I hoisted myself up sending the Eraser flying. I ran towards Fang who was lying still on the floor across the room.

_Where do you think you're going?_ The Eraser charged at me and showed his teeth in my face. I felt my heart drop, but knew that I had to think of something clever, something brave and noble! I did the first thing that came to mind.

I kicked him where it hurt, ran, and picked up Fang. I then ran out of the townhouse and into the streets. I felt bad leaving Nudge, but couldn't think of any other way at the time.

Just as I started to take off, it started to rain. Great. Just great.

"Angel? Where are we?" Fang had regained consciousness. "We're escaping. The Erasers took you into their house and Max, Nudge and I ran to rescue you."

"Where is Nudge?" Fang broke free from my arms and started to fly on his own. "Still fighting. She's helping Max."

"You left them alone in there?" Fang asked angrily. "You selfish-" I cut him off. "Hey, I saved your ass!"

"Thanks for being selfish, Angel! Also, where are Iggy, Gazzy, Emily, and Jeffery? Did you leave them to fend for themselves too?"

"Kind of. They're on their way." Fang rolled his eyes, gave me a light shove, and swooped down. "Are you coming?" He asked.

I followed Fang and led him back to the Eraser's house.

"Fang? Angel?" Nudge punched an Eraser with one hand and was holding Max in the other. "I thought I told you to take him back to the inn!" She dodged a kick.

"I would never leave you here to fight off the Erasers yourself!" Fang ran over to Nudge, hugged her, then pushed an Eraser to the floor. "But Max is helping me!" Fang sighed and cracked his knuckles. "Let's do this thing."

"You passed out! You need some water, some food, and some rest. I'm doing fine with Max!" Nudge punched both of the Erasers in the face.

"Come on, Max, help us out!" Fang screamed. An Eraser showed its teeth to Max and she ran out of the house screaming. _Gee, thanks for helping us, Max!_ Fang and Nudge rolled their eyes.

"Should I go after her?" I asked. No one said anything. "I guess that's a no."

"Fang, honey go lie down!" Nudge begged as she kicked both of the Erasers to the floor. "You need help." Fang replied. The Erasers got back up, but she banged her head against one Eraser's head, and did the same for the other. I watched in amazement as their eyes rolled to the back of their head and they fell to the floor.

"Let's go." Nudge said. "Nudge…" Fang stated. "I said let's go." I noticed the Eraser's charging toward Nudge. "Nudge!" She turned around, but it was too late. The Erasers forced her to the ground, punched her, and then bit her.

Nudge screamed out in pain. "Nudge!" Fang charged up to the Erasers and started beating them up. I threw in a few punches here and there, too.

Fang then bent down to Nudge. "She's collapsed, unconscious. Oh my God, she's not breathing!" Fang screamed. "Not breathing!We have to save her!" I had no time to absorb any of that, for the Erasers charged at us again, only this time with more speed and force. We tried to fend them off, but we were struggling.

"I have to save Nudge!" Fang exclaimed. "She might survive if we act quick!" I dodged the Eraser. "No, save yourself." Fang ignored me and leapt onto Nudge. There was no pulling Fang off of her. It was up to me to fight off two Erasers now.


	25. Chapter 24

**Happy holidays!**

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Chapter 24

I started punching my fists like a madwoman and kicking the Erasers whenever and wherever possible. "Fang, help me!" I was sweating and my lungs felt like they were about to collapse.

Regaining my breath, I kicked one of the Erasers across the room. _Wow, I must be getting stronger. Nice move, Angel!_ I dodged another punch. _Focus, Angel._

"FANG, help me! I can't keep fending these Erasers off!" Fang said nothing as I groaned angrily. An Eraser threw me to the ground. I swear, after all of this was over, I was going to _kill_ Fang!

I looked at the floor and noticed a tiny needle. Why a needle was in an Eraser's townhouse, I had no idea, but hey, I was glad!

I got myself off of the floor and stabbed and Eraser with the needle in the eye. I dug it down as far as it could go. That distracted the Eraser and gave me time to fight the other one. By time, I mean about a few seconds.

An Eraser hit me in the head. The pain started to make me dizzy. I gave one last effort to punch the Eraser, but I missed and fell to the floor. _Not very strong now, are we?  
_

I tried to get myself up, but I was too weak as though I was about to pass out. The two Erasers crowded me. _Would you like to do the honors?_ The Eraser pinned me to the floor and showed his fangs. _This is the end!__I'm history!_ I thought to myself. I was in a panic. I was going to die. Die!

"Get off of her you ugly beast!" It was Jeffery. He came just in time. "You, get off of my girlfriend! Now!" _Well well well, look what the wind dragged in!_

Jeffery charged up to the Eraser that was holding me to the floor and threw him off of me. "Jeffery!" I gave him a quick hug. "Hey, sweetie sorry I took so long." Was he kidding? He saved me! "You came just in time!"

"What happened to Nudge?" Iggy asked. Iggy, Emily, and Gazzy crowded around Nudge and Fang.

"Stop, we have to keep fighting! Fang is with Nudge, he's making sure that she's okay. We have to fight!" I exclaimed. "No, I can handle this. Everyone get out of here. Get Nudge to a hospital. I'll stay and fight, then join you all later." Jeffery called. Was he trying to play hero to impress me, or did he really care that much about all of us. Or, did he think that he was invincible?

"No! Are you crazy? You're just a normal human. These are _Erasers_!" Jeffery punched an Eraser in the mouth. "I know. Just go, I'm fine. I have a black belt in karate."

"Nudge isn't breathing!" Iggy panicked. "She's not breathing!" An Eraser charged for Iggy, but Jeffery wrestled him to the floor. "Take- her to- the hospital!" Jeffery managed. "Go! If there's any chance of saving her, this is it. You have to go now."

Fang carried Nudge and started to the door. An Eraser charged up to me, but I kicked him to the floor. I was still feeling weak and I didn't think that I could last much longer.

"I'll go with Fang and Nudge, you know to make sure that they'll be okay." Gazzy said. "I'm going with him, then." Emily replied."You want to come, Angel?" I shook my head.

"Fine. I'll stay with Jeffery and Angel, okay? Now go! Hurry." Iggy hit an Eraser in the stomach, causing it to fall to the floor.

"So, Angel, how are you?" Jeffery asked nonchalantly. "I'm fighting for my life and you're asking me how I am?" I kicked an Eraser in the face as hard as I could.

"Say, Angel, where's Max?" Iggy looked at me. "Yeah, I was kinda wondering that, too." I punched an Eraser and he punched me in the head. Again, I felt dizzy and faint.

"She just ran off and I don't think that it was to get help. She's supposed to be our leader. Humph, some leader Max is." Iggy and Jeffery nodded in agreement. "When I was little, I used to always look up to her because, well, she was someone that I could look up to. Back then, she always got us through everything. She was my hero. Now, I'm not so sure." I punched an Eraser in the mouth as hard as I could, taking out one of his teeth.

"She used to keep our Flock together, now she destroyed it." Iggy said solemnly with a trace of anger in his voice. "Wait a minute, are you sure that she and she alone destroyed the Flock?" Jeffery asked. Iggy thought for a second. "I'm positive."

Iggy kicked and Eraser until he fell the floor and continued kicking him in the face. "I mean, think about it! Max left for college. Did she ever answer our calls or even call back? No. Did she even write or e-mail? No! Did she ever support us financially of emotionally? NO!" Iggy kicked the Eraser harder and harder.

"Uh, Iggy, I think the Eraser's dead." Iggy shrugged and kept on kicking it. "Angel, remember that time when Nudge went through her weird phase?"

"Which one?" I asked as I hit the remaining Eraser in the face. "It doesn't matter. Fang and I started our shop and she never came to see it. We came to visit you all every weekend. Max came once a year during Christmas, when possible. She was too busy making her millions with her lawsuit and her work to care about us." Iggy kicked the Eraser so hard, his head fell off.

"Eww! IGGY stop kicking him, he's dead! He's DEAD!" Iggy kicked the dead Eraser across the room. _NOOOOOO! You killed Jamal! I'll get you, Iggy! Curse you!_ The other Eraser lunged at Iggy, but Jeffery blocked him with a really awesome move that looked like it came from a Jackie Chan movie.

"Then, Nudge started a minimum wage job when she turned 16. But, when Nudge headed off to college, she couldn't work anymore, and all of our profits from our store went to paying for Nudge's living expenses and supporting Angel and Gazzy. Thank goodness Nudge got a scholarship, or we would've gone broke. For the first year after she left, Gazzy wasn't old enough to work so it was really tough. Did Max help, even though she was starting to get well off? No. Never! Did she contribute a penny of her money to help us out?"

"Calm down!" I punched the Eraser in the face while Jeffery head-butted him from the back. "I can't be calm!"

The Eraser fell to the floor. "Is he dead?" I asked. Jeffery kneeled next to him. "I don't think so. But he's suffered enough. I think that we should go." Iggy shook his head. "He needs to die!" I tried to get him to follow us, but he wouldn't. "Iggy, we're leaving now."

Jeffery and I headed out of the townhouse, but Iggy still wouldn't follow us. "Iggy, come on, let's go. Iggy? IGGY!" Iggy trudged out the door, shaking with rage.

"I never realized how much I hated Max!" Iggy exclaimed. "You know, she has her faults, but still…" Jeffery started.

"Don't defend her!" Iggy screamed. "Don't yell at Jeffery!" I paused. "Iggy, when we meet up with Max again we can talk this out, okay? Now please, calm down. You'll give yourself a heart attack. One hospitalized person is enough."

I took out my phone and called Nudge's phone. It was Gazzy who answered. "Hello, Angel? Are you okay?"

"Yes, yes I'm fine. We're all fine. Where are you all?" I asked. "St. Diego's Medical Research, Rehabilitation, and Emergency Centre. It's a couple of blocks down from the townhouse. Just get out of the neighborhood, make a left turn and keep going for um… what was it? Five blocks. Then make another left and continue for another two blocks. The hospital is on the right. You can't miss it. It's a big green building, green as in Nudge's hair green. Nudge..." I could hear that Gazzy was crying. "But still..." He continued.

I heard Jeffery scream something at Iggy. "Shut up!" I screamed. "Angel?" Gazzy asked. "No, not you, just the two boys over there. We'll be there as soon as possible. Is Nudge okay?"

"Fine at the moment. The doctors were able to revive her. However, she's in much pain and the doctors are still doing tests on her." Gazzy said. "Um listen, I have to go. Please come, okay. Also, if you hear from Max, you know…" Gazzy hung up.

"Alright, let's get going." I turned around to face Jeffery and Iggy. "Don't make me hit you, I _will _hit!" Iggy screamed. "Ooh, I'm so scared." I ran over and put my hands on Jeffery and Iggy's head. "Stop it or I'll jam your heads together!"

"There, now we can behave like mature people and go to the hospital." Iggy glared at Jeffery. "I'll be sent to the hospital if I have to keep looking at his ugly face!"

"That's enough Iggy!" I screamed. I was already edgy and I didn't need some stupid disagreement to make it worse.

We left the neighborhood. "Let's see, turn left…" I thought outloud. "Angel, I don't agree with your choice of guys. What do you see in him? His clothes are torn and he has face carved by Satin himself!" Jeffery brushed some dirt off of his clothes. "For your information, this dirt came from saving your ass!" Iggy laughed sarcastically.

"You idiot! I swear I'll kill you. I will murder you!" Jeffery screamed. Jeffery was usually pretty easygoing, he didn't seem at all like a violent or angry person. What had gotten into him? I had to stop them from fighting. "I swear, if you don't shut up and start acting like men, I'll kill you both!"

That stopped them. "We're almost there. Just a few more blocks."

I turned around and noticed Iggy and Jeffery shoving each other like four-year-olds. "Jeffery!" I screamed. "I can't deal with him!" I let out an impatient groan.

"Jeffery, can't you just deal with him for ten more minutes? Please sweety! It would mean the world to me." This had to work. "Please," I continued, "Just apologize. It iwll make me feel so much better." Jeffery nodded. "For you, Angel." Jeffery took a deep breath and turned to Iggy. "I'm sorry, Iggy."

"You're sorry for what specifically? Go on; say _everything_ that you're sorry about." He prodded. "Iggy, don't push it." I warned. "Fine! I accept your apology." We headed to a dark patch of the sidewalk and I had to use my cell phone to light the way. "Gee, haven't they ever heard of streetlights?"

We finally made it to the hospital. "Hello there, what can I do for you?" The lady sitting at the entrance desk asked.

"Nudge. Nudge Ride. Emergency room. I need to see her." I said. "I'm sorry, visiting hours have passed." The lady said. "Come again tomorrow at eight."

"She's my sister! She has special pills that she has to take. I have to give them to her!" I cried. "Are the nurses aware of this?"

"No, I have to go to her!" The lady stood up. "Very well than. Room 656 follow me. I'll alert the doctors of this medication."

"You idiot! How could you lie about pills? These are doctors. They'll find out that you're lying!" Iggy whispered. "It was all that I could think of."

"Room 656." The lady said.


	26. Chapter 25

For those of you who read _Betrayed from Within, _I wrote a sequal. If you have time please check it out.

* * *

Chapter 25

"Nudge!" I ran up to the hospital bed that Nudge was lying on. "All right, what medication does she need to take?" The lady called.

"Oh, um I forgot she… came off of that medication years ago." I said weakly. "Well, I'm afraid that only one of you can stay with her for the night." I kneeld by Nudge's bed. "Hi." She whispered.

"Well, who's going to stay with her?" We looked at each other. "Maybe you should ask the patient what she wants." Nudge sat up. "Fang." Fang raised his hand. "That's me." The lady smiled. "Good, everyone else out. We've been telling y'all to get out for two hours now. Get on out. Now."

We decided to just go back to the hotel room and come back at eight the next morning. "What are we going to do about the car?" I asked realizing that we had to walk home. "That's Fang's problem." Gazzy remarked.

When we got back to the hotel, Emily and I found Max in our room. "Max?" She blushed and nodded. "Where did you go when you ran away?" I asked.

"Back to the hotel after dinner and a quick trip to the store." She answered. I noticed that Max had bought herself a suitcase. "Max, are you going somewhere?" Max looked down at the ground. "Well… I…"

"I said, are you going somewhere?!" Both of us were surprised by my anger. "I'm going home. I go to call that said if I don't report back to work on Friday, then I shouldn't bother coming back to work again Monday. And I don't thin Mr. Hamilton was talking about a four-day weekend."

"You were going to leave us!" Max looked down at the carpet. "Well, I guess…" Maybe Iggy was right about Max. Maybe she didn't care about us anymore. "You weren't even going to tell us?!"

"I was going to leave a note." I shook my head. "That doesn't really count!"

"Even if you do have to go home, you could've at least stayed and fought and helped us out. You could've made sure that we were safe and _then _be on your way! You know, you really don't care about us, do you? You really only care about yourself! You know what, leave. I think that would be the best thing that ever happened to our Flock!" That's right. I said it. Never could imagine that I would say that- and mean it.

"Wait- Angel. That's not true." I headed out the door. "Just forget it, okay!" I was shaking. I didn't remember being that angry at Max ever.

Max followed me out the door. "Go away!" I knocked as I hard as I could on the door of Jeffery's room, let myself in, and slammed the door in Max's face.

"Now's not a good time sweetie…" I noticed that Jeffery's face was red and his lip was bleeding, but I didn't have time to worry about that.

"Oh thank goodness you're here!" Gazzy ran up to me. "You see they were really going at it and-" Gazzy was interrupted by banging on the door.

"Please, Angel let me in!" Max called. "Max?" Iggy opened the door and let her in. "I know, I did the wrong thing, but if you'll just let me explain…"

"I'd let you explain, but we'd be here until we were 100 if you explained every time you did the wrong thing!" Iggy called. Max sat down on one of the beds. "Look, I've come here to apologize- for everything."

"Max, apology doesn't make it all better." Gazzy said. "Yes, I know but-"

"But nothing! You never supported us when we needed you after you headed off to college. You visited us once a year. You screened our calls and e-mails. You left us on our own! Even though our we had to pay rent for our new store and the house, had to pay for Nudge's college, then Gazzy's, and soon Angel's!" Iggy's face was bright red.

"Yeah, and you made us go into debt too! We did recover, but still. It could've been avoided. I had to sell purse accessories to pay for food for Angel and I!" Gazzy screamed. "Just calm down!" Max said. "No. We won't be calm .WE WON'T!" Iggy screamed. That was Gazzy's cue to run the heck out of the room.

"Maybe you should talk this out instead of screaming." Jeffery said. "Stay out of this pigface!" Iggy yelled. "Oh that's it! That's it!" Jeffery clenched his fists. "Calm down." I whispered. "No!" I rubbed his shoulders. "Please, there's enough yelling as there is." Jeffery took a deep breath and unclenched his fists.

"Also, you know what you did to Angel! She looked up to you and you constantly let her down!" Iggy pointed at me. "Come on, she was the youngest. You sheltered her. She had no idea what was going on." Being the youngest did mean I was sheltered, but I did know what was going on. I did.

"I may not have known the details, but I knew that you didn't care about us. Especially as I got older. I mean, I was in middle school not preschool!" A few years ago, I would have felt sorry for Max. Sorry about how both of us were coming down on her. But now, now I felt nothing but anger.

"You never supported us emotionally or financially." I said. "Not true! I came every Christmas, once on New Years, and I gave you a good 100 dollar check for your present to share." Iggy scoffed.

"Thanks for paying ¼ of the rent for the home for a month!" I looked at Max. "Max, that isn't even the worst part. The worst part was that I didn't know you. I never saw or talked to you enough to really know you."

"You guys could've visited me you know." Max said. "It's not entirely my fault." Uh, it kind of was! "That would be nice if we could afford not to be kicked out onto the street by the landlord first!"

"I'm sorry Max, but you are selfish and cruel and you don't give a damn about how we were!" Max groaned angrily. "I am not mean. When was the last time I was mean to you?"

"Never when you came over were you mean or did you say mean things, but we could still tell that you didn't care about us. Or love us."

"That is not true!" She screamed. "Yes it is! 100 percent." Iggy replied just as loud. "STOP IT!" Jeffery screamed.

"I think you guys have been at it long enough. Enough screaming. If you aren't mature enough to handle this with your words then you should be ashamed."

"Look who's talking." Iggy called. "Leave our situation out of this." He said calmly. "No." I rolled my eyes and walked toward Max.

"If you have to leave, then fine. Jeffery's right. I shouldn't yell at you. But, don't expect us to be here when you return. We're not waiting for you. If you think work is more important, fine. I won't criticize your choice."

"Really?" Max was skeptical. "Really. We'll always love you even if you don't love us back. If you go, we'll know how you feel about us. If you go, we'll probably never see each other again. But if you have to leave, we understand."

"I'll- I'll be- um I'm just going to get coffee and mull it over." I nodded. "Fine." I was surprised at how I handled the situation. A few minutes ago, that same conversation would have consisted of shouting and tears. Thanks to Jeffery, I learned how to stay away from fights. "YOU!"

"Jeffery!" Iggy and Jeffery were rolling on the floor and punching each other. "What on Earth are you doing?!"

"I tried to be calm, but Iggy is impossible!" Jeffery started punching Iggy and I had to lift him off.

"Jeffery!" That's all I said before I ran out of the room. "Angel! Wait!" He ran after me. "No." I opened the door to my room and slammed the door. That's funny; I didn't remember keeping the lights off. I shrugged and flipped the switch on.

"Ahh!" Emily screamed. "Oh- my- GOD!" I felt like I was going to faint. Emily was in my hotel bed with Gazzy and yes, they were naked!

"What are you doing with my brother?" Emily pulled the covers up. "What do you think we're doing?" I covered my eyes.

"Um… we can talk about this later. Put your clothes on. I'll be back- yeah." I felt my way around for the door. "Uh thanks for knocking!" Gazzy called. "Yeah, on MY hotel room!" I slammed the door shut. Things were not going my way.


	27. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

I walked to the lobby of the inn to calm down. I was the only one there. I guess nobody hangs out in the lobby at two in the morning.

I used my cell phone light to find a light switch in the dark room. Ahh. That was better. I looked around the empty and quiet lobby. I lost myself in thought and my problems started to melt away.

I sat back in the chair. It felt good to just relax. I started to fall asleep right there in the lobby, but I heard loud footsteps and then the squeaky sound of the door opening.

"Angel!" It was Jeffery. "What?!" I snapped. "What are you doing here?"

"What do you think I'm doing? I _was _relaxing and taking some alone time." Jeffery shook his head. "Why don't you go back to your room? It's safer there." I rolled my eyes. "Uh, I don't want to go back into my room after what I just saw in there."

"I'm not going to ask." Jeffery moved closer to me. "If you don't want to go back to your room, can I at least accompany you here?"

"Alright. If you must." I sighed jokingly. "Listen, I was thinking that after Nudge gets better, that we can go to Atlanta." I shrugged.

"I could look for a place there after I sell my house." Jeffery took a deep breath. "No, I mean that won't be necessary. I was thinking that I sell my apartment and we buy a new apartment together."

He wanted to live together? "Jeffery, we haven't known each other for very long…" I started. "So what? We know each other very well already. Why wait if we're a match made in heaven?"

"Well, I guess we can discuss it later." What was he thinking? We just met about three weeks ago! The first week we weren't even thinking of dating.

"Yes. You need some time to think. I understand." I could tell that Jeffery was hurt, but still. There was no way that I'd consider getting an apartment with Jeffery at _least_ until the end of the summer!

I turned off the light and fell asleep only to be awaken a few hours earlier.

"What are you doing, ma'am?" A woman with the Inn uniform asked. "Huh? Oh, I came down here and I lost track of time."

"The lobby closes at ten! Did you not read the manual in your room?" I stood up and stretched. "I skimmed through it." The woman rolled her eyes. "What it was like twenty pages!" The woman walked behind the check in desk. "Thirty-five."

I looked around. Where was Jeffery? "Do you need anything?" The woman asked. "No." I sat back down in the chair. "Then go! You're overcrowding the lobby."

"Uh, you and I are the only ones in here." I remarked. "Exactly. Overcrowding. Now shoo, shoo!" Geez! What was her problem?

I walked up the rusted steps to my room. "Knock, knock." I heard rustling from inside, until finally, Emily opened the door. She was wearing a white bathrobe provided by the inn. "Hello."

I walked into my room and closed the door. "Gazzy, you're still here?" I asked. "Of course. Where did you go?" He asked. "I slept in the hotel lobby no thanks to you guys. Now get out Gazzy. Go back to your room. I want to have a word with Emily."

"Just let me tell Emily goodbye." Gazzy kissed Emily on the lips, but that turned into a huge smooch followed by French kissing. "You'll see her in a few minutes. This is not an epic goodbye." Gazzy ignored me and I had to pull them apart. "Come on you two lovebirds, I know you can survive two minutes alone."

"I'm going to check out the continental breakfast." He muttered as he slammed the door shut. "What is it, Angel?" Emily joined me as I sat down on my bed.

I took a deep breath. "Um, so you did it with my brother." I started. "Oh yeah." That was all she had to say, oh yeah and a romantic sigh? "Why? Why didn't you ask me if it was okay, Emily? Why?" Emily stared at me quizzically. "Ask you if it was okay? Okay to what have sex with him?"

"Uh yeah!" Emily shook her head. "Did you ask Jeffery's sister if you could have sex with him?" Emily headed for the door, but I blocked her way. This conversation was anything but over. "That's different."

"Why? Why is it different?" She challenged. "Because you're my best friend. Do you know how weird it feels? I mean my best friend doing it with my brother? If you were really my friend, you would've asked me."

"Angel, you should be happy for me. Gazzy's a great guy. He's the first guy who really likes me for me, not for my good looks. If you were my friend you would be happy fro me. Besides, when would I have asked you? Gazzy came in all stressed from you're fight with Max." Was she trying to pin this on me?! Because if she was..."You could've waited."

"I did wait. I waited four years. I've always had a crush on your brother. I always wanted to ask you if I could go out with him, but I always thought it would bother you. I couldn't take it anymore. I had too."

"It does bother me." I took a deep breath, but did what I knew i had to. "Well, I understand…" Emily hugged me quickly. "I knew you would. Would you like to join us for breakfast before we go to see Nudge?"

"Why not?" I followed Emily downstairs to the lobby. The woman who woke me up gave me a look as I got my tray for the breakfast buffet.

The buffet was not impressive. I tried not to gag as I put some greasy hush puppies and I corn muffin that could've been a hockey puck on my tray.

"Say, where are Iggy, Jeffery, and Max?" Gazzy casually asked. "I don't know. I thought for sure Max would be back by now. As for Jeffery I haven't seen him since like two in the morning." Gazzy shoved some stale donut holes in his mouth.

"So, honey, before heading to the hospital, would you like to get Nudge a get well present at that cute little shop a few blocks over?" Gazzy nodded. "If it's okay with Angel." He said with his mouth full of chewed up food.

"I don't think that we'll have time. We want to get to the hospital before the crowds come in." Emily shrugged. Fine."

After we were done eating, Gazzy gave Emily a kiss on the lips. It was hard for me to watch, and I felt like stopping them, but I forced myself to fight those urges.

"Well, I think that we should be getting to the hospital soon." I threw my tray into the garbage. "Okay, I'll get Iggy up after I finish my banana." Gazzy stuffed a brown banana into his mouth and then headed for his room.

"Want to wait in the lobby?" Emily asked. I shrugged. "Okay." As I sat down on one of the chairs, I checked my voicemail. I had two messages. One was from Jeffery and one was from Max.

"Hi, Angel. I took a walk. I'll meet you at the hospital at eight, waiting room. Love you." I checked the second one. "Hello, Angel. This is Max. Uh… well I did think about what you said and well, I've made my decision. I'll be going back to Atlanta. I love you all, but I think your accusations were everything but fair."

Emily looked at me. "Who is it?" I signaled for her to be quite. "This is becoming too much for me. I have to get to work and I have to care for myself. Anytime you would like to visit, feel welcome. Send everybody but Iggy my best wishes and I hope that Nudge gets better soon. I'm very sorry." I closed my phone.

"Well?" Emily asked. "Jeffery will meet us at the hospital. Max will not. She went back to Atlanta. She sends her regards."

"I understand how hard this must be for you, I mean you look up to her so much…" I shrugged. "Not anymore. I'm glad she left. She was more harm to us than good."

"Do you think that she'll come back?" Emily asked. "If you beg her?" I scoffed. "Nobody will be begging for her back. I told her that I would respect her decision if she made the right choice. Well, she did make the right choice. I'm not mad at all."

"Okay, are we ready to go?" Gazzy called. "Of course, sweetie. Ready if you are." Gazzy leaned over to give Emily a kiss.

"Where's Iggy?" I asked. "He's coming." We heard Iggy trudge into the room. Man, did he give a new definition to the term, 'bedhead'! "Okay, let's go." He yawned.

We met up with Jeffery in the hospital waiting room where I told him about Max. "Well, I guess that's the last we'll be seeing of her."

"Good riddance." Iggy remarked. We waited for five minutes until we were allowed to see Nudge. Her face was a little pale, but had regained some color since yesterday.

"Hello guys." Nudge sat up. "Hello. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine. The doctor says that one of my wounds got infected, but I'll be out of the hospital by tomorrow."

"So, no Max?" Fang asked. I sighed and told him about the voice message she left me. "I see." Fang didn't sound upset or happy.

"Would you like me to get you some breakfast?" I asked. "Sure. There's a coffee shop a block away." I nodded.

Emily and Gazzy joined me. While I ordered some muffins and coffee, Gazzy browsed the paper. "Look at this." He whispered.

"What?" I looked at the front page headline. Medical Researcher, Dr. V. an Assault and Arson Victim, Police Offer 100,000 Dollar Ransom for Catching Eight Criminals. 

"Criminals?" Emily asked. "Congratulations. You are now a criminal on the run."


	28. Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Emily's face turned a ghostly white. "I can't be a criminal. I just can't be." Emily sat down at one of the tables and buried her hands in her face. "What's the big deal?" I asked. Emily stood up abruptly.

"The problem! The problem is that I don't want to go to jail. I'm starting college this September. I'm going to start working part-time as an assistant at a lawfirm, I'm going to start my life! I can't start it in jail."

"Sure you can." Emily smacked Iggy so hard he fell back and knocked down the shelf of mugs on the wall. "Crap. Let's get out of here." Jeffery, Gazzy, Emily, and I nodded as we hurried out of the shop, outrunning the stubby manager.

"That was close." Gazzy said as he slouched onto the bench. "Real close." Iggy scoffed. "That guy could never have caught us with those tiny legs."

"It doesn't matter. What if he calls the cops? The only thing we need is more criminal charges." Emily remarked. "Emily, what's the matter?" Gazzy asked as he gently put his hand on her shoulder. "Dr. V. is after us. Now we could be charged with criminal offenses. We have no choice but to turn ourselves in."

"Where's your adventure? That would really suck." Iggy exclaimed. "Yes it would, but it would suck more if we were being pursued 24/7 by the cops."

"Come on isn't it fun to be criminals on the run!" Iggy screamed. People on the sidewalk turned and stared at him. "I'm just kidding." Iggy said before whispering, "Let's go back to our rooms and talk." Good idea.

We crammed into Iggy, Jeffery, and Gazzy's hotel room. "Look, we have to leave this room. I'm sure the government knows that we took refuge here by now. It's been a few days." Iggy started. "We have to leave, but we can't check out."

"Why not?" Jeffery asked. "Because we want the government to focus all of their attention on finding us here while we escape. If we check out, they'll know that we left." Jeffery headed over to Iggy. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

"No, it's smart! It will work. Then, we can fly away from here and forget everything." Jeffery's face turned an angry shade of red. "No we can't, what about Fang and Nudge we can't leave them here. You are the stupidest person ever."

"Really, well at least I've been coming up with ideas." Iggy remarked. "Your idea does not count. You are putting all of us at risk." Jeffery was about to say something, but Emily stopped him.

"We should just turn ourselves in. What evidence do they have?" Emily stood up. "Well, I'm sure they'll come up with something." I knew that was true. The bad guys always seemed to win. "I told you, I was going to start working at a law firm. I'm sure we can hire some lawyers to help us. We can't do that, though if we wait much longer."

"Don't you get it, we can't leave Atlanta! Your law firm is near your college. You're going to college in Arizona. We can't leave Nudge and Fang behind to go all the way across the country. Nudge will be in the hospital, Fang will be comforting her, then all of the sudden, and the cops will come in and send them to trial. They'll have to go through the trial alone and then…"

"Hush Angel. Let's just think logically." Gazzy said. "This isn't a murder. This isn't an armed robbery. So I'm sure that the police won't go after us hardcore. We run somewhere, after a few weeks the chase will die down."

"Yeah, but it was a government building. They were undergoing special operations given by the president. I'm sure the government won't just 'let this go.'" Emily argued. "We'll need a team of attorneys to help us. And we need them now."

"With all due respect, you _are_ planning on becoming lawyers so you would be more in favor of getting lawyer quicker than the rest of us." Gazzy did have a point.

"What are you trying to say? Honey, I know much more about law and legal issues than you do. You surely aren't challenging that." Uh oh. "Of course not, sweetie. I'm just saying that you _may _be rushing into a decision." They were being polite to each other in their words, but their tones in their voices begged to differ.

"We don't have much time to think this out, so yeah I am reacting rather quickly, being proactive rather than just sitting around and waiting like some lazy asses I know!" Gazzy clenched his fists. "We have some time. This isn't _24_, we don't have to rush into making life-defining decisions." Their polite words were gone now.

"I think that it would be best to let the crime drama quite down and everything will eventually fizzle down." Gazzy talked as though he were trying to force his opinion down all of our throats. "I think that's dumb!" Neither of them looked like they would back down any time soon. "Please guys…" I started.

"Stay out of this Angel this doesn't concern you." Gazzy said. "Yes it does! It concerns all of us. We have a hard decision to make and a lot at stake, but at least we have a chance to get the best possible outcome we can get." I paused. I was not good at on-the-spot pep talks. "But, but if we can't stay together than we have no good chance."

"You're right Angel. I'm sorry Gazzy, let's take a break and then decide when we're calm." Gazzy nodded. Emily reached over to kiss him, but he turned around and headed to the other side of the room to sit down. Emily looked hurt for a second, but quickly drew attention away from it.

"So, what do you think we should do, Jeffery?" I could tell that Jeffery didn't want to choose one side over another in order to avoid conflict. "I think we should think it through and think of a situation that would give us the most leeway for error."

"That's great Mr. Einstein, but we're not philosophers." Iggy sneered. "Stop it. Maybe we should ask Nudge and Fang. They're probably waiting for us anyway." I said. Jeffery and Iggy nodded. "Sounds good. Right? Right?!"

"Yes, of course." Emily started for the door. "Ready Gazzy?" She asked. "Sure, let's go." Emily waited for Gazzy, but he rushed out of the room as if he were avoiding her.

While we walked toward the hospital, Gazzy walked either ten steps ahead or behind Emily. When ever she made an effort to walk next to him, he made the same effort to get away from her. It was obvious that he was avoiding her.

We arrived at the hospital and the lady at the desk immediately let us visit Nudge. I opened the door. "So that's what I think." Fang said as Nudge giggled. "Um…hello, I hope we're not interrupting anything."

"No, of course not." Nudge said as the rest of us came in. "Of course not." She didn't sound like that was true.

"So, we are now being convicted of arson and assault by none other than Dr. V." Emily started. "What do you guys think we should do?"

"Beat her up." Fang said. "I think we should, I dunno, what have you guys been thinking?" Nudge asked. "That's the problem. We don't want to leave you guys, but it seems that whether we go and get a lawyer to help us or we try to run away we'll have to." I sat down next to Nudge.

"What do you mean you guys?" Nudge asked. "Well, I'm assuming that Fang won't leave you behind…" Fang nodded. "That's right."

"Fang, if they're after us, they meaning the cops, you will do whatever you need to make sure that you don't get thrown in jail. Forget about me." Fang sat down on Nudge's bed. "I could never forget about you." With that, Fang and Nudge started making out, right there. In front of all of us.

I watched Iggy gag. "Are you done?"

"Oh come on." Fang said. "No, you can make out later. We have serious issues." Fang sat up. "Well you do…" Iggy ran over and hit him over the head. "We have to decide. Soon. What do you two lovebirds think?"

"I think you should get a lawyer. Sort this whole thing out, and that will be that. By that time, I should be out of the hospital." Nudge said. Emily normally would have made an "I told you so" look towards Gazzy, but she didn't. "Okay. We can start off tomorrow."

"Okay." I shrugged. "I'll give Barry a call today, though. Let him know that we'll be arriving. Hey, Angel, why don't you come with me?" I followed her outside of the room all the way to the hospital patio.

As Emily made her call, I put on my sweater. It was breezy outside with a light rain and getting kind of chilly. "Yes, thank you." Emily said as she hung up her phone and stuffed it in her back pocket of her jeans.

"What's the matter?" I asked even though I had a hunch. "Gazzy." Yeah, I was right. "He's mad at me." Well done, genius. I was getting real tired of Emily being so obsessed over my brother and talking about it all the time.

"Well, maybe he's not exactly mad, but just a little upset." Emily shook her head. "I could tell that he's mad at me. You're his sister, so maybe; maybe you can get the scoop. Don't make it seem to obvious, though…"

"Emily, we're not in middle school. We're adults. Why don't _you _just go up to him, as his girlfriend and ask him yourself?" I was getting really ticked off. "But he keeps avoiding me." Ugh. "Well maybe I can convince him to talk to you." Emily's face lit up.

"But that's it." I headed back inside the room and motioned for Gazzy to follow me out into the hallway. "What?"

"Gazzy, are you okay? You seem upset at I don't know, maybe um…Emily?" Gazzy rolled his eyes. "She asked you to talk to me, didn't she?"

"Well, um… she, yeah." Gazzy faintly smiled. "Can I tell you something?" I nodded. "Sure." Gazzy looked around. "Just don't blab this all to Emily, okay?"

"Why would I?" I was eager to hear this. "She's a great person and all. Lately though, I've been realizing that there isn't much to our relationship. What more do we have in common than looking good?" I quickly elbowed him.

"Seriously though, I think it's pretty much over now." What?! "O-over?" I wasn't a big fan of their relationship, but still…over?

"Look, we're just not right for each other. She's just well, I don't know. We just don't see eye to eye anymore. I'm nto as attracted to her anymore. Please, don't say anything to her. I want to be the one to break it off with her, okay?" I was frozen in shock.

"But wait, maybe it's not her or your relationship. Maybe it's just that minor disagreement you had. You haven't been together that long so you know, maybe you just aren't ready to accept this. Please, think this over. Don't make any quick decisions. Think carefully and make your choice." Gazzy paused.

"I've made my choice. Angel, it's best for us. Now where is she? I need to talk with her." I felt like I wanted to cry for some reason. I guess I just thought that everything would work out for them. I guess I deep down was really happy that Emily was happy. She was never this happy with any of her many previous boyfriends.

I secretly followed Gazzy to the waiting room where Emily eagerly awaited him. This would not be good.


End file.
